Hockey Mask
by Zuko's Barnacle of Doom
Summary: Naruto and the gang are sent on a special mission to retrieve two EXTREMELY new kunoichi that could help aid them in the defeat of Oreo and the Akatsuki, a mission they didn't know could change so much. Shippuuden romances! Pairings inside. AC, AL, V!
1. The Mission

**A/N: YAY! ANOTHER STORY! W00T! Well, the first for this account, anyway. We won't spend time with a long introduction because we know how frustrating that is, so we'll wait until the end. Continue at your own risk!**

**Pairings: You'll just have to find out! Okay, we'll tell, you broke us down... NaruHina, SasuSaku, TemShika, NejiTen. And as for the few that might be missing-you'll have to wait, because we're evil like that!**

**Rated for intense, perverse, hilariously morbid humour. Adult content and suggestion. Strong language from our one and only Uchiha...and a few others. Adult situations, and later bloody violence. **

**Disclaimer: Oho, we can imagine what we'd do should we own Naruto... Oh yes, we can see it now... MWAHAHAHAHA! Sadly, however, we do not. Not now, anyway. And that is why Our Lord and Saviour created mustard and paintball guns! As of now, though, the characters and what they come with do not belong to us, only the OCs and the idea. **

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Mission**

"What do you think this mission is that Tsunade-obaa-chan wants to see us for?" The blonde boy inquired stupidly as he turned to his other two teammates, cerulean eyes wide with excitement. Uzamaki Naruto, the number one, knuckleheaded ninja of Konohagakure and his two life-long friends Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke were on their way to the Hokage tower for an A-ranked mission. Accompanying them on this highly ranked quest were Hyuuga Hinata, the shy heiress to one of the most prestigious clans in the Village Hidden in the Leaves; Aburame Shino, also from a well-known, and very powerful clan; and Inuzuka Kiba, a dog master and skilled ninja along with his canine companion, Akamaru. The six shinobi were to meet at the Tower at five-o-clock sharp.

"How should I know, dobe, we have just as much information about this mission as you." The Uchiha rolled his onyx eyes at his friend. He was in his usual slouched stance, hands in pockets; the only difference was that his ninja forehead protector was still slashed through the middle from his previous _adventures _in the Village Hidden in the Sound.

"Don't be so rude, Sasuke," Sakura snapped at him, emerald orbs glaring daggers at the mentioned man as a lock of her bubble-gum pink hair fell undignified in her face. "You're lucky she's even letting you go on this mission. You've yet to earn our trust back." She spat at him with disdain and hurt all mixed into one. "No, Naruto, I don't think anyone knows yet, maybe except Kakashi and Kurenai." She glanced towards the dark haired Uchiha and reminisced about all of her previous feelings, but they were soon washed over by all of the anger she currently held toward him.

"Hinata-chan, good to see you, are you ready for this mission?" Naruto blurted out and ran to his friends as they got closer to the other three near the tall red building. The Hyuuga heiress blushed and replied.

"Y-Yes, Naruto-kun, I-I believe so." She stuttered and pulled away from him, looking away with an apparent blush. Even though all of the ninja were now sixteen and had encountered many a difficult trial, she still felt her love for Naruto just as deeply as it was four years earlier.

The group finally was near and waiting. Their former senseis greeted curtly and stood silently as the young ninja spoke excitedly of the new mission. This was their first highly ranked mission since retrieving Sasuke and all were anxious for what was going to happen.

"I'll finally be able to show you up, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto suddenly yelled. Everyone went silent and stared at him like the moron that he was.

Sakura abruptly beat him over the head, "Shut up, you baka! You're so annoying sometimes." She smiled playfully at him to show that she hadn't meant it in a horrible way. He gave her one of his goofy grins and they all went back to talking. They were quickly silenced as their sensei's led them to the Hokage's office. Once inside, they bowed respectfully to the older medic nin as she gestured for them to take their seats.

"I'm sure you're all wondering what this mission is supposed to be." She began, Sake bottles cluttering her desk, her hands clasped in front of her face. "This is very important and in some ways dangerous, so I need you all to behave well and pay close attention, _Naruto_." Tsunade glared at the young fox-demon, everyone straightened immediately and listened intently. "I need you to bring back two young girls, one fifteen and one sixteen, they are of great importance to this village."

"What's so great about them?" The Uzamaki immediately blurted, but soon quieted and shrugged at the glares that were directed towards him.

"I was getting to that! Kami help me…" The Hokage intervened and took a shot of Sake, shook her light blonde head, and proceeded on with the explanation. "They could be of great use in defeating the Akatsuki." Sasuke immediately stiffened and got a deathly look on his face, everyone glanced towards him to see his reaction. "We need to do this once and for all so pay attention! The only issue we have is that, well, they're a bit like Naruto; hyper, over-active, one likes squirrels and the other is a bit ditzy."

"Oh great, it's another Naruto and Sakura pair!" Sasuke mumbled; the two he insulted death glared and the pink-haired kunoichi huffed, looking in the other direction.

"Oh, and they don't know they're ninja or that we exist." Tsunade finished quickly and smiled a sheepish grin; everyone, including the sensei's, sweat-dropped.

"How are they going to help us if they don't know who we are, where we are, or that we even exist, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked, curiosity shielding her doubt and frustration from view.

"They possess a rare kekkei-genkai, a blood line trait, and they're families have the ability to manipulate the elements. Each girl has the power to control one of the four natural elements; one can control water, the other, earth." She explained further. So far everything was coming together, but then she had to go and open her mouth again, "The only problem is…"

"Another one?!" Naruto sighed in exasperation.

"The _only_ problem," Tsunade continued, ignoring her student, "is that they don't know that they can achieve these things, either." She said quickly, averting everyone's glares and sweat drops. The number one knuckleheaded ninja fell over, Sasuke rolled his eyes and collapsed in his chair, Sakura was excited at the prospect of teaching more people, Hinata tended to Naruto, and Shino and Kiba face palmed in annoyance.

"So how the hell are we supposed to complete this?!" Hinata's teammate, Kiba, yelled; Akamaru, who was on the boy's shoulder, barked in agreement.

"You go and get them, do everything it takes to make them come with you…tell them you have candy in the van or something, whatever it takes!" She told them, eye twitching and leaning on her desk. "Now, I'm allowing this mission a week for completion, I want them back here by next Tuesday to begin their training. Now, here are the directions and statistics," She handed them all pieces of paper with the general information. "Oh and…ahem…their, uh, pictures," She passed out other individual sheets and awaited the reaction. Everyone stared in disbelief, the guys a bit more intrigued with this mission than the girls.

"But…but…they're umm…" The Inuzuka stuttered, cocking his head and turning the paper, unable to finish his sentence. Sasuke just stared, wide-eyed, speechless. Sakura looked away and Hinata nearly fainted.

"They're…" Naruto began, "They're taking showers! Who took these pictures, Ero-Sannin?!" Naruto yelled, Kakashi immediately took the paper to _examine_ this situation. Of course, the pictures didn't reveal everything, but they certainly left little to the imagination.

"Actually, yes, I sent him to get this information." Tsunade pulled them out of their seats and shuffled them towards the door, everyone still in their stupor. "Now, have fun on this mission and don't come back until you have them with you!" She yelled and gave a big cheeky grin, slamming the door. "Finally, I can get back to work now," She mumbled as she picked up her Sake and turned on the horserace to place her bet.

"What was she thinking, sending Jiraiya-sama to get pictures and information on these two?! Everyone knows he's the king of perverts, what with the books he writes that Kakashi-sensei reads, and his so-called 'research'!" Naruto yelled as they walked out of the building. Kakashi just smiled and Sasuke was silent.

"I have to say, that was quite immature of her, regardless of their past." Sakura said, shaking her head. _I would have assassinated her in her drunken sleep if I knew she had that done to me_, she thought to herself.

"At least we know what they look like." Shino said quietly under his breath. Kiba heard him and busted up laughing while Hinata turned three shades of red. Kurenai raised an eyebrow at her former students, but refrained from commenting on that.

"Well, since we only have a week, we'd best get on our way." The sensei told her team and they all nodded through either fits of laughter or shakings of the head.

The students were now at the high wooden gate and began to walk out, turning as they realised their senseis weren't following.

"Aren't you guys coming?" Sakura asked curiously. The two teachers glanced at each other then back at the group.

"W-Well we have some…uh…teacherly work to do now. So we can't…" Kurenai skated around the fact that they were to meet Asuma and Anko that night at Ichiraku's.

"Yes, we must be off now, we feel that you are all perfectly capable of this on your own. See you in a week! Don't get killed!" Kakashi gave a big smile under his mask to Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura. He gave the victory peace sign to his previous charges and the large gates of Konoha slammed the friends out. All of the teenagers sweat-dropped and looked at each other, the Uzamaki then flipped out and started running in circles like a chicken with its head cut off.

"They left us to do it on our own?! A mission like this?! I hate that stupid book-loving sensei!" He yelled then gripped his hair and melted to the ground.

"I know I was gone for a while, but I didn't think you could get _weaker_ in that amount of time, dobe." Sasuke sneered and went back to his normal sulking self.

"It-It'll be ok, Naruto-kun, w-we can do i-it!" Hinata gave quiet encouragement to her friends.

"Yeah, come on, Naruto, you saw how hot these girls were, especially the older one. This'll be fun!" Kiba exclaimed pumping his fist in the air and walking egotistically forward, the others following.

"I suppose you're right, dog-boy, this could get real interesting," Naruto said thoughtfully, wrapping his arm around his pup-loving friend's shoulder, walking along with him. Sakura rolled her eyes at the pair, Sasuke walked emotionlessly ahead of everyone, and Shino and Hinata began forward, the girl's face a bit sad. The group of friends disappeared into the horizon as they began on a journey none of them would forget.

* * *

**A/N: Short, we know, but it was only the very beginning. The chapters will be very long, we promise! Bug is a stickler for grammar, so if you see any grammatical errors, please inform us-as well as any others and we'll try to fix it. But, we request that you don't flame, because we _will_ answer to it. Oh, and some notes. **

**1. Obviously this takes place in Shippuuden, and yes, Sasuke came back when Sakura and Naruto and Sai went to get him. We've changed things around a bit. ****I guess one thing is left...**

**PLEASE REVIEW! Bug will give you cookies...GIANT COOKIES! And Pixie Sticks. **


	2. The Meeting

**A/N: You see how nice we are? We posted two chapters. Now, if you enjoyed it, from now on you must review to get the next chapter! Wow, we ARE evil! Really, did you like it? **

**Rating: Now comes in the language and adult content (a.k.a perverseness that steadily increases in each chapter, especially when-oh, well, we won't ruin it for you!). And as a side note, the 'T' is only for now, there is a possibility of Lemons later on, should we get that far. **

**Disclaimer: Does it really work when you only put it on the first chapter? That would be really nice, because this is going to get annoying. We don't own Naruto, only this idea and the OCs. The rest belongs to Kishimoto-sama.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Meeting**

The steam from the shower impaired the blonde girl's vision, but she enjoyed it none-the-less. Taylour had just finished bathing to the glorious sounds of Motley Crue and Guns 'n Roses blaring from her bedroom. She rolled her ocean blue eyes and smiled, shaking her head and walking out of the bathroom, long hair wet and towel wrapped securely around her. Ashley, the girl's elder cousin, was upstairs rocking out to what she calls music and was completely oblivious to the world for the time being. It was nighttime and the youngest was ready to go to bed seeing as she was now clean from the day's work.

There was a knock on the door and she cocked her head in confusion as to who would be insane enough to come around this late at night. She peaked through the window and opened the door to see six teenagers standing there. Four boys and two girls, one girl had bubble-gum pink hair, the other with long midnight-blue locks. The boy that had knocked had blonde hair and blue eyes, resembling Taylour very closely.

"Can I help you?" She asked as politely as she could, forgetting she was virtually naked and the fact there was "music" blaring behind her.

The group stared at her, the boys a bit more intensely than the girls; the dark haired girl looked away blushing madly.

The boy with the dog on his shoulder and red triangles on his cheeks held a piece of paper up and examined it closely, then looked towards the girl opposite them in the door, scanning up and down. "Yep, that's definitely one of them. Good thing that pervy sage took a picture of her like that, we might not have recognised her otherwise." He smirked. Taylour eyed them all oddly then looked down and realised what she was wearing…or _wasn't_ wearing.

"Excuse me for a moment," She commented and gave a forced smile, slamming the door in their faces. "Ashley, did you invite your friends over?! Mum said no parties!" The ninjas heard her yell over the music. "And why can't you listen to classical?" She mumbled to herself, trying to drown out the noise.

The sound shut off for a moment as the called upon girl poked her platinum blonde head around the corner and down the stairs, "What did you say about parties?"

Taylour rolled her eyes at her overly eccentric cousin, "There are a bunch of teenagers outside my door and I want to know if they're your friends. You know my mum said no parties while she and dad are out." She looked at Ashley expectantly. The older girl pursed her lips for a moment as she thought about this. "It isn't rocket science, you know." The other said again, cocking her head to one side.

"I didn't invite anyone over if that's what you're talking about. Here, let me see," The girl ran down the stairs, jumping the last three and landing with a resounding thud. She peaked out the window, and then started yelling, "Oh my God, we're under attack!" Her voice dropped to an excited whisper as she shuffled over to her cousin, "They have weapons! We need to lock the doors, quick!" With that, Ashley lunged forward, locked and bolted the door and then went running around the house securing all the other entrances. She came back to the younger of the two who hadn't moved due to lack of energy and awe of her cousin's weirdness.

"How am I even related to you? I seriously wonder that sometimes." Taylour said as she went upstairs, ignoring the people at the door, as she went to change. She heard something outside her door, "Ashley, stop trying to sneak around the house you moron."

She was at the moment trying to fix her hair and had only gotten her bra, underwear, and sweat pants on. Her door suddenly opened and three of the kids from outside burst into her room. It was the blonde haired kid, the pink haired chick, and some raven haired guy who looked like he was eternally pissed. The hostess screamed and could hear the scuffle down stairs as her cousin was taking the other three on.

"We need you and your cousin to come with us," The blonde haired boy said, the three suddenly realising that she was still half naked and perhaps they should've knocked to make sure she wasn't undressing, as she was.

The defender scoffed, "Like hell I will! You'll have to take me either dead or unconscious!" Taylour threw her hairbrush then went for her window; she'd gone on many midnight adventures with Ashley and used her 

window to escape through. Unfortunately, she didn't make it to the casement, actually, she only was able to turn before she was knocked and pinned to the ground being straddled on her back by the raven haired kid.

"Get the fuck off me!" She yelled as the struggle continued. She could still hear Ashley down stairs yelling random things and someone say "Put a gag in her mouth already," and then all went quiet.

The pale blonde still struggled under the boy, but he held firm, smirking at the fact that he had dominance. "Sasuke get off her," The other girl yelled as she ripped him off of Taylour, "We're not here to make them hate us, baka!"

"Fine, if she won't come down, I'll just make her!" And with that Sasuke flung his charge over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walked nonchalantly out her bedroom door. The blonde boy and emerald-eyed girl glanced at each other but followed behind. Taylour, like Ashley, wouldn't go out without a fight and kicked and screamed out profanities, pounding the Uchiha's back until they were downstairs. Everyone stopped to stare at their friend, seeing as he had a fairly exposed girl hanging off his shoulder.

When said girl felt him stop she propped herself using his back as a support and turned around to see everyone looking at her oddly. She smiled sheepishly and looked to the corner, seeing her cousin bound and gagged, struggling. The eldest of the two to be retrieved was, at the moment, silently untying her hands, trying to get free, which she miserably failed at seeing as Hinata had used chakra strings on her. Sasuke flipped Taylour back over his shoulder and plopped her on the ground. Everyone looked towards her, then the other girl, shrugged, and proceeded with what they had come to do.

"Ok, I'll take the crazy one, Uchiha you get the half naked one, go it?" Kiba ordered, "Wow, I never thought I would ever say that." The dog boy said thoughtfully, making his way over to his new charge and picking her tied body up bridal style, winning him a death glare.

"Wait, we didn't agree to any of this! We don't even know who you are!" Her cousin screeched as she said a muffled thank you. "And can I please get a freaking shirt on?!" The girl muffled another thank you and started attempting a laugh.

"Fine, but one of us is going to have to go with you to make sure you don't make another escape attempt," The so far silent boy that looked like he belonged in the Matrix finally said. The youngest girl glared toward him then rolled her eyes.

"Deal, but can it please be someone that lacks the Y-chromosome?" She asked indignantly. The boys looked to each other and nodded. Hinata took a step forward and volunteered to take the job.

"I-I'll do it. P-Please come with me Teiraa-san." She said politely and began to walk up the stairs, the girl following.

They made it to her bedroom and she began rummaging to find a suitable shirt. "I'm sorry for all of this, but we really need you to come with us. We're ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves and we know that you don't know what that is, but you have to trust us on this." Hyuuga Hinata explained to the blonde, said girl finally finding a shirt and ready to go back downstairs.

"Right, listen, I'm really sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about." Taylour replied, heading down the steps.

"Now that I'm not naked anymore, can you please explain what's going on in more detail?!" She demanded. "And I would really like to know who you all are, like your names and stuff. Oh, and take the damn gag off Ashley before she gets really annoying." Rolling her eyes, the girl took her place on the couch. Kiba took the gag and chakra strings off of the elder cousin and they came over to sit with the rest of the teens.

"Ok, well, I guess I'll start off. I'm Sakura, formally of Team 7 and in training to be a medic-nin under Tsunade-sama, our Hokage, or leader." Sakura began, looking towards the two girls. "We're ninja from the Land of Fire and were sent to retrieve you to help us with the Akatsuki. When we get back home we'll train you to use your kekkei-genkai to help us." She finished matter-of-factly.

The girls looked at each other and back at the group, "I'm so confused!" Ashley cried and fell off the couch into Dog-Boys lap, then scrambled back up.

"Um, why should we believe you?" Taylour cocked her head towards everyone.

"Because we can do this, and only ninja's can do this." Naruto exclaimed then did some hand signs and turned himself into a girl…a very naked girl. Sasuke face palmed and Sakura rolled her eyes, Kiba and Shino gawked at him as Hinata blushed and turned away.

"Well, technically there are some men stupid enough to do that here, but I have to say, the way you did it does kind of prove your point." The youngest in the room commented thoughtfully and looked towards Ashley for her opinion. The other blonde girl was still twitching but quickly came out of her trance.

"I suppose it does make sense, and hey, we have nothing better to do. But first, I want to know all of your guys' names." She told them and looked expectantly towards each of the ninja.

The blonde shinobi changed back into a guy and stated quite loudly, "My name is Uzamaki Naruto! I'm the best ninja here and I'm going to be the next Hokage, dattebayo!"

Ashley blinked for a moment as she stared at him, "Alright, I'm going to call you Nar-Nar, because I can. Oh, and I won't believe it until I see it." She gave him a smile then looked towards the brown-haired dog master, "What's your name, Dog -Boy?"

Kiba smirked up at her from his place on the floor, "My name is Kiba, and this is my dog, Akamaru." The puppy barked at the girl above as if to assure her that he was who the Inuzuka was talking about.

She just smiled and said, "Oh. Okay…"

The Matrix Man spoke again and said, "My name is Aburame Shino, I like bugs." A small beetle crawled out of the arm of his jacket and took a place on his index finger.

Ashley's mouth twitched as she tried to restrain her laughter and Taylour's eye twitched at the thought of bugs. "Bugs are cool." The first said, her smile still growing.

"My nickname is Bug!" The other smiled widely; Shino just looked at her silently along with the rest of the ninja.

The shy girl who hadn't really spoken stuttered out her name as well, "I-I'm Hyuuga Hinata. It's very n-nice to meet you two." She smiled and blushed lightly. The cousins smiled back at her and nodded.

"Okay, Emo Boy! What's your name?" Taylour asked with a menacing grin on her face as she turned to the apathetic Uchiha leaning against the antique hutch.

Sasuke frowned at her, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I'm out to avenge my family and kill my brother, and I'm not emo."

"Right, he sure looks emo to me." Ashley whispered to her relative. The girl nodded in agreement as Sasuke raised his eyebrow at them in annoyance.

"My name is Ashley! But, since you guys are creepy ninja stalkers, you already knew that. Wait, do you know what my favorite animal is?" The eldest questioned neurotically, her vibrant green eyes wide.

Kiba grinned up at her, "Squirrels?" He guessed.

Ashley gasped and started twitching and she turned to Taylour. "They know so much!" She screamed and gripped her face.

"Of course we know so much! Here're your pictures and everything!" Naruto yelled excitedly. Sakura tried to stop him but the two girls grabbed the papers too quickly. They examined the pictures with shocked faces, and then looked towards each other and the ninja. Kiba was stealing a glance over Ashley's shoulder and she punched him, hard. A few seconds later they lunged for the Uzamaki screaming what sounded like: "How the hell did you get naked pictures of us!?"

Sasuke and the Inuzuka pulled the two girls off of the poor blonde ninja and set them down firmly on the couch, not letting them move. The two subjects' eyes still twitched as Naruto threw his hands up in defense and explained that it was his pervy sensei that did it.

"But still…they know too much! Even what we look like _unclothed_!" The eldest girl screamed in her cousin's ear, paranoid.

"God, Ash, How much soda did you have?" She asked, rubbing her forehead and grimacing.

"Um… That's a very good question… Since I didn't plan on sleeping tonight, I drank around ten of them…" The girl sat lower in the couch looking at Taylour like she was going to suddenly turn into a giant lizard and eat her.

Instead, the youngest just face palmed and groaned, "This is going to be one long night."

Ashley smiled maniacally at this and started bouncing on the couch. "We get to go on an adventure; we get to go on an adventure!" She bounced vibrantly on the couch, her next of kin looking at the six ninjas who were looking back and forth between the two.

"When are we leaving? I'll get her tranquilizer." She said as all the ninja laughed at the green-eyed girl's reaction as she screamed and jumped over the back of the couch to get away from Taylour and the idea of a tranquilizer.

Kiba grabbed her and threw her back on the sofa, then sat on her so she wouldn't move anymore. "You're heavy and have a bony butt, now get off." The girl underneath him exclaimed, pushing him roughly onto the ground.

"Well, judging by the time, we should get moving out now." Shino said from behind his tall coat collar. Hinata nodded in agreement, as did the other ninja, but their new acquaintances glowered.

"Why don't you guys just spend the night, we have to feed the animals tomorrow morning, and our parents aren't going to be home for another two days." Taylour offered up, trying to prolong the length of their departure.

Ashley caught on, "Yeah, and by tomorrow all of this sugar will be worn off, for the most part, and I won't be as annoying…for the most part." The cousins laughed at the looks they were given.

"Well, you're pretty damn annoying right now, so any decrease in your annoyingness will be wonderful." Sasuke said dryly, rolling his eyes and looking to the ground skeptically.

Sakura glared at her former teammate, "Well, I think it will be a good idea to stay the night here, that way you two can let all of the information sink in and you guys don't have too much stress." She smiled at the two new girls and everyone agreed with her.

"It's decided, we're going to have a sleep over!" Ashley yelled jumping off of the couch and running into the kitchen with her hands waving in the air.

Shino looked at Taylour, "Where do you propose we all sleep?" He asked professionally.

"In the living room, of course, we'll just get a ton of blankets and such." She replied, already heading to the linen closet. Everyone shrugged and looked at each other, settling in and getting comfortable.

"Teiraa-chan, do you have ramen?" Naruto whined like a child. Sasuke hit him hard over the head and proceeded with what he was doing. "What was that for, teme? I'm hungry!" The number one knuckle-headed ninja whined again.

Taylour giggled and responded, "Sure, Naruto, it's in the cupboard." She laid out the blankets in an organized pattern, giving everyone a fair space to sleep in front of the TV.

"What should we do about changing?" Sakura asked as she adjusted her sleeping area made for her out of pink fleece blankets with flowers.

"Oh, um, we can head up to my room if you'd like. I'll take you up there in a second when Ash and I go to get changed." The youngest responded while making up a few more beds. "As for the guys, you can just get into your pajamas when we go up." She shrugged while the boys nodded.

The girls went upstairs to get changed, looking at the family pictures and other decorations hanging on the walls. Sakura pulled a cherry blossom and black camisole with matching black Capri's and slipped them on, pulling her short pink hair back into a half ponytail. Hinata pulled out her dark violet and white flannel button up top and matching pants with moons all over them and also pulled her hair back. Ashley grabbed her pajamas out of her bag that she had brought with her that consisted of a white camisole top and blue fleece pants that had penguins on them. The remaining girl just peeled off her shirt and began to walk out with her teal blue bra and her matching sweatpants pulled up to the knee. She turned when she noticed no one was following.

"What? It's not like you guys haven't already seen anything. I get hot at night so it's just easier this way." She said matter-of-factly. Ashley bust up barking in laughter for no apparent reason and the three girls had to drag her down the stairs. The boys were talking about some boyish topic that, Taylour being who she is, would've much rather been in on instead of upstairs with psycho women. The boys stopped and turned as they noticed their counterparts walking down the stairs. The girls shoved an intoxicated Ashley down first; she giggled and stumbled over to her bed roll which seemed to be already occupied by a dog.

"Ok, I like dogs but this is a bit much. If you don't get him out of there I swear I'll jump out of the freaking closet with a hockey mask and stick and beat the hell out you with it slowly and painfully." She turned serious in an instant, everyone looked at her frightened until Kiba slowly grabbed a shocked Akamaru and set him down on his bedroll. The girl then burst into her insane laughter and everyone sighed in relief.

Hinata was next to come down and shakily walked over to her blankets laid out neatly next to Naruto. She blushed as she noticed him looking at her and shuffled quickly under the covers.

Sakura sauntered down the stairs and fixed her hair in the process, sloppily walking over to her bed and laying inside it, Sasuke watching her secretly all the while.

Taylour was the last as she walked nonchalantly over to her sleeping area. She noticed everyone looking at her and gave them quizzical stares.

"Oh come on people, it's not like you haven't already seen me naked, or at least half, so what difference does it make? Besides, I'm sure it's not Quilting Today magazine that's hidden under all the boys' mattresses, you've all seen a naked girl before." She added defensively, shrugging her shoulders as the guys looked either shocked, or guilty.

"The white, it burns!" Ashley squealed at the unworldly lack of pigment in her younger cousin's skin, hiding behind Kiba and Akamaru, who were currently giving her looks as if she just ran out of the asylum.

"Oh, stuff it, why don't you!" Taylour said playfully as she threw a pillow in that general direction and snuggled tightly under the covers. Everyone followed, Sasuke and Naruto fighting over how much space each would get. Hinata was scooting as far away from the two as possible and Sakura just rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling. It was still quite early-only midnight-so the teenagers decided to watch a horror movie.

"Um, let's watch…Papa to Kiss in the Dark!" Ashley yelled; they all stared.

"Ashley that's freaking Yaoi, you hate it…or do you?! Ah, I knew it! You like watching guys make out!" Taylour screamed and pointed, giggling like an evil schoolgirl. The boys cringed and the girls just looked on, not knowing whether to be scared, or to suggest watching it.

"I know, that's the point, it's scary!" She trembled in fear of having to watch flamers make out.

"Uh, no, let's watch Grudge, its Japanese!" Kiba suggested slowly. Taylour began to tremble but being the stubborn person she is, didn't admit she was frightened to next week. She got up slowly and put it in the DVD player as if in a trance and sat down to watch.

The beginning…began…and the ninja watched intently. The guys were all tough and macho while Hinata and Sakura clung to Naruto and Sasuke when the first scary part showed its ugly face. Taylour twitched and gripped her sheets tightly, and Ashley burst out in laughter, Kiba scooting farther away from her. Shino was watching as he played with his spiders and caterpillars on his arms.

The movie ended fairly quickly with Sakura resisting the temptation to find sub-conscious relief in her "old" love, and Naruto was basically in Hinata's lap, the Hyuuga close to fainting. Sasuke held his smirk while the rest of the group knew he was paying more attention to the pink-haired girl than anything else. Ashley and Kiba were laughing at the fake affects as Akamaru slept on the girls lap contently. Taylour, however, was perched high on a very uncomfortable Shino's shoulders, only to realise that there were spiders surrounding her as she looked down. She immediately flew into the wall trying to get away from all the scary things.

Ashley walked over, giving Akamaru to his owner, and peeled her cousin off the floor, leading her into the kitchen to get snacks. Being the open floor plan that this house consisted of, they yelled into the living room and took the orders of what everyone wanted. Ten minutes later the two girls came out with ten cans of assorted sodas, three bowls of popcorn, two boxes of chocolate, and six bowls of chicken ramen courtesy of Naruto.

"I'm not tired, who's tired? Anyone tired? I wanna watch another movie!" The eldest bounced up and down in her spot seated next to the dog lover and her cousin, almost spilling the two cans of Vanilla Coke in each of her hands.

Naruto stared at her, "Do you ever run out of energy?!" He asked, bewildered. She shook her head faster than a hummingbird's wing, digging into the double salted and buttered popcorn.

"Like you're one to talk, dobe." Sasuke scoffed and turned to Taylour. "I'm not tired, Tsunade said we had a week, we still have five days left, and I want to watch another movie."

"A little demanding, aren't we?" She asked cynically, but all the ninja plus Ashley agreed with the Uchiha. "Oh fine, what next? Something I can laugh at, please." She pleaded, not wanting to risk being seen as a coward again.

"Something with a dog!" Kiba suggested animatedly; the eldest cringed behind him, knowing what would come next.

Taylour looked in her cousin's direction and skipped to the sofa table that held all of the DVDs.

"Something with dogs it is, then, how about Cujo!" She grinned maniacally and all but a certain insane blonde girl, whom suddenly wasn't hyper, agreed.

Kiba sensed this and asked in a kind of insulted tone, "What, do you have something against dogs?" Akamaru looked hurt and let out a slight whimper.

"J-Just the rabid ones," She smiled facedly and assured him and his pet. Taylour put Grudge into its case and inserted Cujo into the machine. She skipped back to her roll and stared at the TV expectantly with a malicious grin on her face. The group backed away from her slowly.

Sakura was almost immediately clinging to her blankets tightly, still resisting the urge to cling to Sasuke as the rabid dog attacked its first victim. The youngest was laughing at this as was the Uchiha, which was kind of creepy, because he's emo.

Ashley was hanging off of The Inuzuka's shoulder and trying to hide behind him as the dog tried to comfort her. She had a fear of rabid dogs, so the puppy wasn't really helping, since he's a dog. The boy was attempting to keep the smirk from taking over his face as she clung tighter to him the longer the movie went on.

Naruto just kind of watched wide-eyed as a dog, about the size of full-size Akamaru, tore people to pieces. Shino watched and was contemplating how many bugs were on the poor canine.

After the movie, the brown-haired dog master had to pry the cousin off of his blankets, since she decided to hide behind him and under his blankets; he wasn't using them so she did. The others were beginning to finally wear out and the sugar high that the insane blonde was on was about to go for an immediate plummet.

"Hey, dearest nee-chan, how did you like the movie?" Taylour asked innocently with a huge grin on her face.

Ashley finally came out from Kiba's blankets, "Is it finally over?" She glanced towards the TV, "You are a very malicious person and I wish you one-hundred billion years in Pennsylvania for that! Now, I'm finally beginning to become tired, so I'm going to bed. I bid you a bad night, oh wretched cousin of mine." Ashley glared at the girl next to her, hopped over to her bed, and quickly shimmied under the covers. Everyone followed suit as people said their good nights to each other. Hinata and Naruto were sleeping quite close to each other and the latter, being the restless sleeper he is, rolled over and his hand was on hers by accident_._

"Ok, I agree, let's get some shut eye before tomorrow, it's a good two days back to Konoha-," Sakura began as she snuggled into her nest of blankets, but Taylour cut her off.

"Two freaking days? That's such a long time!" She whined and gave a pout.

"Well too fucking bad, we came all this way and we're not going back empty handed." Sasuke glared at her and turned over sloppily.

"Well you can just go and…and…oh shit, I'm too tired to think of an insult. I'm going to bed; I'll deal with you in the morning." The girl grumbled, the last one to get into her sleeping bag and settle next to her cousin.

A few moments passed until the silence was broken with a shrill and strangled cry. "Dude, you freaking touched my butt, you pervert!" Ashley screamed, not knowing who did it.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Kiba threw his hands up in defense, startled from his drifting state, "Oi, Akamaru, was I acting out my fantasy again?" He murmured to his friend, whom shook his head "no."

"Well the only person next to me is Taylour, quit molesting me!" She yelled at her cousin.

"What the hell?" Sasuke added in confusion, he was now wide awake.

"I didn't touch your butt; I'm not a les you know," The accused being pleaded in her defense, rolling tired eyes at her cousin's stupidity.

"Yes you did and you know it." She glared in the dark; poor Ashley couldn't figure out that no one could see her.

"Uh, I'm going to have to side with Teiraa, here, I really don't think she grabbed your butt." Naruto added awkwardly, now awake and not realising that his hand was still on Hinata's.

"N-Naruto-kun, your…your h-hand…" The Hyuuga awoke from the disruption and looked down wearily at her arm, which was under Naruto's.

"Oh, heh, gomen, Hinata-chan," The blonde boy snatched his hand away from her form and scratched the back of his head.

"Look, I didn't touch your butt, now go to bed!" Taylour growled in exasperation and flopped heavily to her linens.

"Yes you did," Ashley murmured in defeat and followed suit. "Unless I was hallucinating again," She added under breath, though everyone heard and sweat dropped.

Sleep finally washed over the ninja and their charges giving them the rest that they would need for the next day and those to follow.

* * *

**A/N: W00T! It begins! Heh, I'm listening to Eiffel 65 right now, it's amusing. Oh, this is Bug, by the way. No, not the Bug from the story, she just stole my nickname. IT'S MINE, I TELL YOU! MINE! Again, I'm really uptight about grammar and punctuation, so any CONSTRUCTIVE critism is welcomed with open arms. **

**Like said in the beginning, please review and let me know if you would like the next chapter posted. Barnacle and I have up to Chapter 7 written, so we just need your green lights to continue on with it! **

**Thanks tons and bunches! **

**Oh, and funny story about the 'too fucking bad' line Sasuke was given. I have Word 2007 and it has the grammar corrections (which sometimes are innaccurate) and so it underlined 'bad'. Well, the substitute for it was 'badly' so it would turn out to be 'fucking badly'. O.o I found that interesting. Haha, poor Sasuke. **

**Don't worry, we love you, Sasu-chan. **

**Sasuke: DON'T CALL ME THAT! -twitch-**

**Oh, stuff a sock in it, why don't you. **

**Next chapter will introduce a set of characters we ALL know and love! Especially me... . Please review!**

* * *


	3. Back to Konoha

**A/N: Yo! Bug again. See? I'm an even NICER person since I'm uploading this because I'm avoiding things. I figured, also, that it might help move the plot along a little more since the first two chapters don't do much for that. So, here you go!**

**Rating: Ahem, just a warning, this is where the adult content comes in thanks to a certain few characters. CoughPuppetMastercough. Jee, can you guess who it is? From now on, there will be at least one bit of sexual suggestion in each chapter, just because I'm a dork like that. **

**Speaking of which, Barnacle wants you ALL to know that, yes, I was the one that wrote all of the perverseness and/or fluff and she had nothing to do with it. For the most part. **

**Disclaimer: Is getting annoying. Must you rub it in that I own nothing?! Oh, wait, that's not true. I do own the Russian AK-47, it's in the safe as we speak. And a Chinese SKS; along with numerous other types of firearms. Because I pwn like that. Though, we are in no way associated with the songs used or song writers. **

* * *

**Chapter 3: Back to Konoha**

The sun rose, showing a bright new day and allowing the birds to begin their song. The ninja were sleeping peacefully until Naruto let out an epic snore that everyone shot up at. Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, and Taylour flew up and stood in defensive stances, ready for the "attack".

"What the heck was that? Is Germany bombing again?" Taylour asked in a whisper, grabbing her Russian AK-47 from its spot in the safe. Sasuke looked at her like she was crazy, but answered none-the-less.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I think the Akatsuki followed us here, that sounded like that drag queen's blasts." The Uchiha told her also in a whisper.

Kiba and Akamaru noticed that Ashley hadn't awoken from the sound, or so they thought. They decided to see how much it would take to wake her up, apparently forgetting what had happened before they had all fallen asleep. The boy had his companion grab a marker and he opened it up, poised over Ashley's face.

"So, cousin, you were going to shoot a German with a Russian AK-47, and you're Jewish? Irony, thy name is Taylour. Oh, and I swear on everything living, if you draw on my face I will kill you right now, where you kneel." The girl muttered from her place on the ground as her eyes fluttered open, glaring at the ninja above her. He jumped back, his eyes wide.

"Holy crap, I thought that you were still asleep!" He looked slightly embarrassed that he had been caught and recapped the marker.

"I've been awake for quite some time, Dog-Boy." Ashley muttered again and sat up, "And that sound wasn't the Akatsuki, whoever the hell they are, or Germany. It's Nar Nar snoring." She got up, kicked Naruto and plodded off to the kitchen, ignoring everyone and the yelp from the nasally congested boy.

"Is she not a morning person?" Sakura asked cocking her head to the side and casting Taylour a quizzical glance.

"She usually is, I'm not sure what her problem is, but I suppose that since we are all now awake we should get ready to go." The girl replied and started to pick up her blankets. The ninja followed suit and soon the smell of eggs, bacon, waffles and toast were coming from the kitchen. The teens filed to the bar, each one promptly bopping the blonde shinobi hard on the head.

"Ouch, you guys, what was that for?!" He asked as he rubbed his head and gave all of the abusive ones a death glare, slowly making his way over to them.

"A-Are you okay, N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked wearily as she blushed, looking to him.

"Oh grow up and get some balls, dobe." Sasuke snapped to his old teammate, inevitably rolling his eyes once more.

"Oi, fine Hinata-chan, just a bump…or two," He responded, scratching the back of his head and giving her a big grin; the Hyuuga nearly fainted, walking to the opposite side of the counter. Taylour and Ashley were fixing up a hearty breakfast, preparing for the day ahead.

"Hey, can we have ramen for breakfast?!" Naruto asked, jumping up and down in his spot like a child. The group of ninja just groaned and smacked their hands to their heads.

"No you baka, that's not a breakfast item, maybe we can have it for lunch." Sakura promised, grinning playfully to her friend. Ashley was now putting the last of the bacon on and pouring more pancake batter into the pans on the stove.

Taylour bustled about the kitchen and poured everyone some fresh squeezed orange juice. "Ok, since breakfast is on and finishing up, I'm going to go and feed." She told the group and put on her boots. "Anyone want to come with?" She asked, but noticed most of her peers had scattered to do various things, all except Sasuke, whom was sitting in a bar chair.

"You're coming with me, Emo Boy." She told more than asked as she grabbed his sleeve and drug him to the door.

"What, wait, why me?" He asked, gobsmacked that someone thought they could touch his holy figure, resisting her grasp.

"Because everyone else is busy and emo people need to cheer up." The girl began as Ashley started to sing Cheer Up Emo Kid. Sasuke just death glared towards her, still standing by the door. "Besides, I wouldn't want your manly ninja skills to go to waste." Taylour added sarcastically, smiling sweetly and giving the raven-haired boy her trademark _puppy_ _eyes_.

"Oh, that's serious Emo Boy, she's got you there." The eldest remarked, not looking up from her work and raising her eyebrows.

The Uchiha turned away pursing his lips, averting his eyes from the pathetically cute look the girl before him was giving. He glanced at her and crossed his arms, then found the clock on the wall very interesting. The blonde girl knew that after one more look he would have to give in, it was inhuman not to. He looked at big blue eyes once more then sighed in defeat, rolling his onyx orbs and putting on his ninja sandals. She smiled widely when he turned his back, but put her sad face back in place as he looked at her and walked out the door. She followed him, looking back at her cousin, and the rest of the group that had stopped to watch, winking and skipping through the entrance way.

"So now where do we go?" Sasuke asked bitterly, stopping to admire the trees and green grass around him.

"Uh, to the hay shed, smart one." Taylour replied snidely, walking to the big white barn ahead. The boy followed her, looking at the assortment of flowers and brightly coloured bushes that surrounded him. The pair made it to the large building and she swung the doors open, revealing two ton of hay taking up the majority of the space. They walked in and the ninja stopped in front of the stacked grass while his partner proceeded to climb to the top.

"Alright, I'll roll it down and then all we have to do is carry it out and give it to the individual horses in the paddocks." She explained as she examined each bale.

"So what did you need me for?" Sasuke inquired, moving out of the way of a rogue bale that was _accidently_ aimed straight for his head. "Hey, watch it!" He yelled up to the girl that was now hopping down to ground level.

"Oops, jee I'm so sorry, it certainly wasn't meant to hit you in the head and knock you unconscious." She told him sweetly as she walked past him to the fodder. "And I already told you, emo kids need to be cheered up, and what's more happy than knowing that you're helping to give life to an animal?" She told him, picking up the eighty pound bale easily and walking out the door. Sasuke, resisting the urge to use his kekkei-genkai on the girl, followed after her.

"I'm not emo, I already told you that! You know nothing about my past." He said angrily as Taylour threw the bale on the ground near the fences and continued to open it.

"Well the only way I'm going to know is if you, or someone else, tell me. And I'm sure if the former doesn't happen, the latter will." She told him matter-of-factly, searching for her pocket knife which she soon remembered was lying on the counter.

"Here, do I have to do everything?" Sasuke mumbled and shoved past the girl who was now thoroughly insulted. He pulled his kunai out swiftly and cut the bale open with one pass. Taylour walked up to it as if nothing had happened and began to throw it over to the over thankful horses.

"What, no thank you?" The Uchiha mocked as she finished up and shut the barn doors. She acted as if she hadn't heard him and began walking on the path to the house.

"So how long have you and Sakura been going out?" The girl asked him as they weaved through the woods.

He stopped and looked at her with disbelieving eyes. "Excuse me?"

"You know, Sakura, named as such because she's the only person in the world with pink hair. How long have you two been together?" She asked again simply.

Sasuke scoffed and strolled forward stoically, "Yeah, right. We've never gone out, nor will we ever." His tone was bitter as the two made it to the house.

"Oh good, just in time." Kiba told Taylour from the table as she and the Uchiha walked through the doorway, discarding of their shoes and coats. The table was already set, Ashley and Sakura dishing the food out. The blonde who just came in took her place next to her cohort and Sasuke as he sat down next to Sakura; the girl on his left turned to him and raised her eyebrows skeptically, then glanced to the Haruno. He just glared and rolled his eyes continuing to eat.

Breakfast went by quickly, only serving just enough for the seven teens and Naruto, whom had fourths.

"So how long are we going to be gone, exactly?" Ashley asked as she walked upstairs to pack her bag. Taylour followed as the rest of the group was packing their things.

"Indefinitely," Said Shino bluntly as his bugs crawled up his jacket once more.

The two girls glanced at each other, horrified yet excited at the thought. The nins waited to hear the scream that never came. They just shrugged and continued on with their business of packing and gathering clothes.

"What, aren't you guys upset or worried or something?" Naruto asked stupidly, as if he were looking for them to be angry.

The girls came back downstairs fairly quickly with bags in hand. "Not really, no, we love doing stuff like this." Ashley explained to them simply as she walked over the group and threw her bright green bag sloppily on the ground.

"Yeah, it's out favourite pastime." Taylour smiled and set her dark blue duffle next to her cousin's.

"Well you two sure got ready fast," Sakura observed, "It would've taken me at least half a day." She told them airily, flinging her hand in the air.

"We know, you take your sweet time when it comes to packing for missions," Naruto whined to her, "No wonder we always get back late!" The pink-haired kunoichi walked menacingly over to him and gave him a good few whacks on the head.

"Oh, well Ash already had her stuff packed, and I don't have too much to take, anyway. We'll have to go shopping when we get back to your village thingy." Taylour shrugged and sat on the floor to put on her shoes.

"So we going or not?" Ashley asked as she threw her bag over her shoulder and walked to the door, looking expectantly to the others.

"Wait, I have to go potty, where is it?" Naruto asked as if he were five, dancing on the spot. His teammates just shook their heads while one of the hostesses pointed to the door down the hall.

They all waited in silence until they heard the toilet flush, then Naruto walked proudly out of the bathroom.

"Ok, ready, dattebayo!" He yelled then pumped a fist into the air.

Ashley and Taylour looked at each other, and the former got a thoughtful and serious look for once on her face while she looked at Akamaru. "Taylour, did you feed the dogs when you fed the horses?" There was a pause as everyone looked at the youngest, who was confused.

She caught on, "Oh, crap, I keep forgetting about them," She smiled sheepishly while her cousin face palmed and Kiba raised his eyebrows, "but we can do that really quickly. Come and help me since they seem to behave whenever you're around."

Ashley grinned widely and followed Taylour out the door. The excitement the two held was almost on the edge of bursting. They closed the door and took off like bullets towards the back fence, determined to get away from the ninja. They didn't make it very far, as the ninja stopped them before they could make it to the fence.

"Since you're going to make this hard for all of us, we're going to have to carry you, both." Sasuke said, as he pinned Taylour to the ground.

"Get off me, Dog Boy!" Ashley was trying to wriggle free from Kiba's vice-like grip.

"My name is Kiba, not Dog Boy!" He yelled at her as he pinned her arms behind her back and pulled her to her feet.

"Wow, you must be one horny emo person, Sasuke, twice now I've found you on top of me in twenty four hours. I know it's hard to resist my beauty but I'd rather not give it up to someone that looks like his head belongs to the back of a bird in front of a group of pubescent teenagers, thanks for the offer though." Taylour glared up at the Uchiha above her as shock and disgust spread across his face, a growl soon erupting from his chest. He held his position, though, as she tried her hardest to get up. Naruto bust up into laughter in the background along with Sakura and Shino; Kiba almost lost his grip on Ashley and nearly fell back on top of her, and poor Hinata blushed like no tomorrow.

"Come on, you two, we need to go now, maybe we'll have some extra time to stop on the way if we want to." The pink-haired girl suggested as her laughter subsided.

The Inuzuka was about to pick up his prisoner but she started screaming, "I swear to the squirrels if you carry me I won't stop screaming until your ears bleed!" She started to pull away from him, but he frowned at her and called his dog over.

"Not like they aren't bleeding already…" He grumbled, "Fine, we'll have you ride on Akamaru, since you seem quite adamant about no one touching you." He huffed and threw her on a large sized Akamaru.

"I'm germ-a-phobic. I can't help it." Ashley said with a hint of apology in her voice as she looked down to her hands like a child.

"Geez Ash, are you seriously apologising to someone for once?" Taylour asked mockingly from her place under Sasuke.

The older of the two glared, "You didn't hear the words 'I'M SORRY DOG-BOY' come out of my mouth, so I wasn't apologising, I was just providing them with a reason as to why I am currently acting like a psyche ward escapee and any acts like this that I do in the future." She put a fake grin on then turned it back into a frown. The morning so far had been a fairly miserable one, and it was right to say that she hadn't woken up on the right side of the bed.

Sasuke turned his chicken-butt of a head to look back at the girl beneath him and cocked it, "Are you afraid of germs, as well?" He asked in what seemed to be a sincere voice, staring at her curiously.

"Well, not really, it depends-" She began, but then let out a strangled cry as he swiftly grabbed her waist and flung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes once again.

"Ouch, hey, what the hell are you doing?!" She yelled and hit him repeatedly in the back.

"Good, I just had to ask cause if you were I wouldn't be able to do this." He said nonchalantly, beginning to walk forward and adjusted the girl on his arm.

"Who the hell do you think you are; Shrek?!" She screeched as she continued to pound his back and kick uselessly with her legs. "Do you always carry girls like this when they refuse to do something with you?!"

"Well aren't you guys coming? We better get a move on." Sasuke turned to the group, whipping Taylour unnecessarily fast. She mumbled something about motion sickness, balance, and murder from blunt force trauma to a certain head, then hung her head in defeat. "Now, come on, just leave their bags, they can get stuff in Konoha." He stared expectantly at his friends, whom were still stunned that he was actually carrying a person over his shoulder, sloppily.

Naruto shrugged and continued forward, Kiba, Akamaru, and Ashley followed, and Sakura shook her head and also walked towards the group with Hinata and Shino on either side of her. The Uchiha turned back around and walked purposefully forward; his passenger now faced the group with a look that lacked all dignity.

"Are you seriously going to carry me the entire way? This is ridiculous!" Taylour turned to her head to look at Sasuke, who was ignoring her, and yelled at him. She was momentarily snapped out of her anger at being carried when she noticed that Ashley and Kiba were both riding Akamaru, probably to ensure that she doesn't hop off and try to run away. The youngest smirked as she noticed how rigid her cousin was sitting with the boys arms secured around her waist. Sakura noted the smirk and looked over, smiling as well.

"Fine, I'll deal with this being carried thing," The girl accepted the situation indignantly, "But if you fart in my face I swear I'll kick you so hard in the balls you'll never be able to have children." She threatened seriously, but only getting a grunt from her captor in reply.

Kiba laughed aloud, "That might hinder some of your plans for the rebuilding of your clan, dude."

"Hey, Sasuke," Taylour inquired after a while, "Can I tell you something without you getting mad?" She cocked her head; the ninja were walking in a fairly straight line and turned to her to hear the comment.

"No." He replied gruffly.

"Too bad, I'm telling you anyway," The passenger began, then looked to Naruto and back to her carrier, "Well, I regret to inform you that Naruto, here, has a much nicer butt than you do and that you need to grow one." She said in all seriousness while the others snickered.

"All emo people need to grow butts," Ashley added thoughtfully, snickering.

Sasuke got a horrified look on his face as Naruto blurted, "I finally beat you at something, Sasuke! Dattebayo!"

"Then I'll just take some of yours since it's big enough for the both of us," The Uchiha smirked back to her, hitting her butt that was now an open target.

"Hey, that's private property!" She yelled, smacking his just as hard. He hit her back and this continued until the eldest spoke up again.

"Well technically she would have to grow an ass first, seeing as she has none." She told him as the two continued to abuse each other.

"This is a lose-lose situation for me, isn't it?!" Taylour screamed with one last hard smack to the Uchiha's butt. "But I suppose you are right…" She added, using his back to prop herself up.

"Hn," Was all that was heard from Sasuke after that.

About an hour passed and the two cousins were beginning to get terribly bored listening to the silence, surrounding nature, or the small talk of the ninjas. Taylour propped herself up to look towards Ashley. "Hey, Ash, are you as bored as I am?"

The girl looked up from the numerous braids that she had started in Akamaru's long coat. "What do you think?" She asked dryly, taking the plaits out quickly and rubbing his coat to apologise for them.

"Humph, well, we need to find something to entertain ourselves." The younger remarked as she let herself relax again; her stomach was beginning to hurt from being on Uchiha's shoulder. Ashley had a thoughtful look on her face as she thought about something that would be amusing for the both of them. Her face suddenly lit up as she got an idea.

"We should think of theme songs for everyone and then sing them!" She suddenly yelled excitedly, startling the group

"Don't you dare sing." Sasuke warned bluntly. Taylour smiled maliciously behind his back.

"Who should we start with?" The young girl asked as she cast a glance around their small company.

"That's a good question, let's start with Matrix Man!" Ashley replied laughing and starting to relax at her place in front of Kiba. Everyone looked at the two girls as they let their giggles out and proceeded to sing.

The cousin's stared at each other in contemplation for a moment until enlightenment appeared on their faces. They began to sing simultaneously, and very loudly, "Crawling in my skin, these wounds they will not heal! Fear is how I fall, confusing what is real!" The two girls banged their heads to the music until they couldn't contain their laughter anymore and burst, the eldest almost falling off of her ride only to be saved by his owner, and Taylour, though quite uncomfortable, supporting herself by pushing on Sasuke's back so as not to topple off.

Shino might have actually chuckled a bit from behind his collar and everyone looked to him see his reaction. They all relaxed as they saw his bugs going back into his jacket.

"Let's see, who's next…Oh I know, Sakura!" Sasuke's passenger shouted, propping herself up with a big grin, he was getting quite annoyed with the on and off pressure applied on his lower back. He stiffened, as well, knowing the girl had noticed something and hoping it would have nothing to do with the kunoichi and him.

Sakura perked and waited happily to see what fun tunes the two girls would come up with.

The Uchiha didn't get his wish. "Ok, one, two three," Taylour began, smiling at Ashley, "He's my best friend, best of all best friend, do you have a best friend, too? It tickles in my tummy; he's so yummy, yummy hey you should get a best friend too!" The girls continued to sing as Naruto looked between his two former teammates, finally understanding why they had picked that song.

The raven-haired boy nearly stumbled when he heard the words and tensed as the girl with him put emphasis on _best friend_, nearly letting her go. Sakura looked awkwardly around the forest until she, too, started laughing. Kiba was chuckling softly behind the musical Ashley, and Hinata and Shino found it quite funny, as well.

"Alright, alright, now who should go?" The eldest cousin asked, still giggling between words, "Hmmm, how about we sing for Hinata next?" She smiled at the Hyuuga as she blushed slightly, half afraid as to what song the girls were going to use for her. The two girls counted it off.

"Boy meets girl. You were my dream, my world, but I was blind, you cheated on me from behind. So on my own, I feel so all alone. And I know, it's true, I'm still in love with you! I need a miracle! I wanna be your girl. Give me a chance to see, that you were made for me. I need a miracle! Please let me be your girl, one day you'll see it can happen to me, can happen to me…" Hinata blushed heavily as the song continued; Sakura looked from the heiress, to her friend and suppressed the urge to laugh. Kiba looked to Hinata and smirked, knowing what this was all about. Taylour even felt Sasuke chuckle quietly as she continued with her song.

The girls finished and Naruto decided to be his oblivious self, "Wow, Hinata, are you crushing on someone in Konoha, anyone I know?" He gave her a nudge and his famous foxy grin.

"Uh, n-no N-Naruto-kun, I-I have n-no i-idea wh-what they're t-talking about." If it were possible, her face would've caught on fire right then and there, she almost fainted at the little contact made between her and her "secret" love.

The two cousins decided this was enough torture and moved on to their next victim. "That was such a wonderful song." The youngest sighed and giggled once more, "Now how about Nar Nar as our next victim-I mean, subject," She shifty-eyed and glanced toward Ashley. This took a bit more contemplation as the golden-blonde propped her elbow up on the Uchiha's shoulder blade and rested her chin in her hand; her eyes squinted in thought.

The elder of the two assumed the position of leaning all the way forward onto Akamaru and also resting her head in her hands. Poor Kiba, however, had her butt pushed flush up to his pelvis. He, being very dog-like, had a few interesting thoughts running through his head and clasped his hands in his hair to try and relax.

Taylour averted her eyes from Ashley, to the boy with her and, noticing the distressed look on his feature, burst into laughter. The other girl shot up and looked around her, trying to figure out what was so funny, but shrugged it off when her cousin immediately shut up. The light blonde went back to thinking, but stayed in the upright position, saving her companion from what might've been disastrous.

This randomly gave the youngest an idea and the imaginary light bulb flashed 160-watts above her head. "I got it; this'll be perfect." She smiled evilly, "I'm going to be a mighty king, so enemies beware!"

Her cousin had caught on and began to sing in a English accent, "I've never seen a king of beasts with quite so little hair." And the shinobi watch amusedly at the girls' little performance.

"I'm going to be the main event, like no king was before. I'm brushing up, I'm looking down, I'm working on my roar!" Taylour belted happily.

"Well, that's a rather uninspiring thing."

"Oh, I just can't wait to by king!" The other sang; Naruto smiling widely and stepping proudly to the beat.

"There you go, Naruto, that's your new song," Sakura laughed along with her friends as they agreed.

"I think Dog-boy should go next!" Ashley smiled sweetly as she turned to look at Kiba, who felt that glaring would be an appropriate thing do to at this point. Akamaru, having taken a liking to the girl, barked happily in agreement.

The Inuzuka also glared at the dog, something he seldom did, "Thanks for the support, Akamaru, you're a true friend." He said, sarcasm weighing his voice down.

"Oh come on, we've all had to do it, it's actually kind of fun to hear what they come up with for you!" Naruto said enthusiastically, "Don't be a spoilt sport."

"Yeah, don't be a spoilt sport, little Kiba-_kun_." The eldest pouted to him; he turned away quickly, finding the grass very intriguing at the moment.

"Ok, I've got the perfectest one ever!" Taylour squealed, grinning widely. She started to sing, moving her body along with the music, which proved to make poor Sasuke very uncomfortable with her butt shaking in his face. "I can't escape this hell; so many times I've tried. But I'm still caged inside," Ashley caught on by now and began rocking and singing at the top of her lungs as well. "Somebody get me through this nightmare, I can't control myself! So what if you can see, the dark inside of me, no one will ever tame this animal I have become! Help me believe, it's not the real, somebody help me tame this animal!" At this point everyone began laughing, even Shino, just because of the sheer irony of the situation. Kiba, too, joined in and chuckled a bit as Akamaru "sang" along with them.

Once all the laughter had subsided, and Naruto had recovered from falling over and choking because of his fit of mirth, they continued walking and realised there was still one more person left. Sasuke put on an emotionless face as Taylour shot Ashley a mischievous look at what was about to happen.

"Well, it looks like you're the last one to go, Emo Kid. Does that make you sad?" The latter taunted him from her place on Akamaru as she started to laugh all over again. Her cousin was laughing as well and had relaxed on his back for a moment to let her muscles regain a little bit of energy before they sang their last song.

"You ready, Ashley?" She smirked, looking in her cousin's direction, both already knowing which song to sing. "Here we go!" Sasuke tensed and sighed quickly before preparing to hear the torture that was. "I'm an emo kid, non-conforming as can be you'd be non-conforming too if you looked just like me!" Naruto was rolling on the ground trying to catch his breath, Hinata and Sakura not far behind. Shino showed his first sign of real emotion by having to lean on a tree and regain his composure. Kiba fell off the back of Akamaru, which only made Ashley laugh harder. "I've got paint on my nails and make-up on my face; I'm almost emo enough to start shaving my legs. Cause I feel real deep when I'm dressing in drag, I call it freedom of expression most just call me a fag! Cause our dudes look like chicks, and our chicks look like dikes, cause emo is one step below transvestite!" With that she had lost all of her breath and couldn't contain her barking laughter any longer. Her body went limp against Sasuke's rigid one, he had stopped in anger.

It took a good couple minutes for everyone to get virtual control of themselves before the Uchiha spoke in a dangerous tone. "I swear I'll drop you if you pull a stunt like that again." He growled and Taylour turned to look at his face of stone.

"I bet you won't," She challenged, still giggling.

"You don't know me, I _will_ drop you." He growled again, imitating Akamaru to a 'T'.

"Yes we do, you're emo!" Ashley yelled. Kiba, who had climbed back on Akamaru, fell off once more, taking his riding partner with him. They fell on the dirt and continued to laugh.

"No you won't, Sasuke, because if you do I'm taking you with me," Taylour said to him, now serious.

"Like you could pull me down with your poor excuse for strength," He scoffed and rolled his eyes; everyone now silent and observing the growing argument.

"I bet I can, and you still won't drop me, emo people don't have enough balls to do something like that." She rationalized with him; he shifted quickly and threw her back over his shoulder. She anticipated this and grabbed the back of his shirt just in time to pull him down along with her. She landed on her back with her legs sprawled every which way, and because of the angle of which Sasuke was pulled, he was unfortunate enough to land between her legs with his head in the valley of her breasts.

"Kami damnit," His muffled voice was heard as the girl underneath him stayed still.

"Well, Sasuke, I thought you'd at least take her out to dinner first," Sneered Naruto, smirking in their direction.

"He's raping my cousin!" Ashley yelled and almost collapsed for a third time as Kiba's strong arms caught her, giving out two seconds later from laughing so hard, the two friends falling in a similar position to Sasuke's and Taylour's.

"Get off me, Sasuke; this is a bit too far for only knowing you for two days." The girl said calmly as he lifted his head and glared at her, only making her giggle even more. He hoisted himself off of her and brushed the dirt off his clothes. The others walked to the pair and waited to see what would happen next. Taylour got up and cleaned the undergrowth from the back of her pants.

"I-I think T-Teiraa-chan can walk on her own now, Sasuke-san." Hinata suggested, the others agreeing to her statement.

"Hey, what about me, can I walk too?" Ashley whined. Everyone looked at her with sweat-drops.

"I don't think so." The Inuzuka replied flatly, climbing behind her on his companion.

"I think we should keep moving." Shino said looking ahead and ignoring the immaturity surrounding him.

"I still want to walk on my own; I'm not a child, Sasuke-_kun_." Taylour stated, walking past everyone with confidence.

"Yes, well, it would be a bit more believable if you were going the right way!" Sasuke stomped over to her and drug her in the opposite direction. Ashley snickered from her secure place on the large white dog with Kiba now behind her.

After a long day's walk Sasuke, after much pestering from Naruto, stopped the group to sleep for the night.

"God, Sasuke, you think it's finally a good time to stop?" Sakura exclaimed, collapsing on the ground in the campsite, the others following suit.

"We need to get back soon; I don't feel like dealing with trouble right now." He told her back, also setting his supplies down. "Girls set up camp; I'll make the fire, Naruto and Shino go-," He was cut off in his rant by his pink-haired friend.

"First off, who gave you the right to choose who does what? And second, you're a tag-along on this mission because Tsunade-sama still doesn't trust you; I suggest you not tell us what to do since you're in such a delicate situation." She said murderously and getting up in his face, the whole group now staring intently, watching the drama unfold.

The only thing Sasuke could do was glare at her, and after a few minutes he backed off, "Fine, do what you wish Sakura, you'll always be just as annoying as you were before I left."

"That might've worked on me before, but it won't now," She snapped, turning to the group to give their orders. "Hinata and I will start getting things ready, Naruto and Shino, could you please scout around for intrusions and get the water? Kiba and Ashley will go hunting with Akamaru, Sasuke and Taylour can get the fire wood, and he can make the fire." The kunoichi finished, sounding exactly like her mentor.

"Got it, Sakura-chan, we'll get right on it, dattebayo!" Naruto grinned widely and scratched the back of his head, he and Shino heading towards the river that was heard near by.

Ashley shot Kiba a sideways glance, "Great, I have to go with Dog-Boy." She muttered under her breath as the boy smiled at her mischievously. She gave a low growl and went with him reluctantly, "I'm only going with you because of Akamaru." The girl stated firmly, patting the dog on the head.

Akamaru's master shrugged, "Keep telling yourself that, but I know what you're thinking." He smiled cheekily at her and received a death glare.

"If you know what I'm thinking, then you should be trembling in fear as I'm currently devising ways to kill you." The girl seethed. Everyone looked at her amazed, where had the eccentric person from yesterday gone?

"Hey, at least you get to work with him and not Emo boy." Taylour said, smirking and jabbing a thumb in Sasuke's direction.

Her cousin smiled bitterly, "At the least." With that, she and her assigned partner got onto Akamaru and headed off into the woods.

"I have to work with her now, too?!" Sasuke yelled, pointing towards the young girl, whom was rolling her eyes. Sakura death glared him and he reluctantly headed off into the woods, "Let's go, I don't want to take all night." He grumbled under his breath. Taylour fought back her laughter and followed.

The remaining kunoichis glanced at each other as they began to unpack, "So, how bad do you think it's going to get between those two?" Sakura asked her friend as she paused her work.

"Um, I-I'm not sure S-Sakura-chan. I hope that they'll stop f-fighting soon, it's kind of annoying." Hinata said quietly, giving a small smile.

"Well, as long as they don't become too close, I'm fine with that." The medic nin stated firmly with determination showing in her features. The Hyuuga looked up at her friend slightly confused, but smiled and shook her head continuing with her work.

"As long as who don't become too close?" Shino asked, walking up behind his friends at the camp with water in hand.

The pink-haired girl stiffened, "Just gossiping with Hinata, nothing you need to worry about." She turned and smiled at him then went back to finishing her task. "Wait, where's Naruto?" Sakura asked, noticing the annoying blonde ninja wasn't with Shino.

He sighed and shook his head, "He's trying to catch a fish..." The bug boy put the water down and went off into the woods to look at bugs.

"I hope N-Naruto-kun comes back alright." Hinata said worriedly, blushing lightly at the thought of her love.

"Hopefully he'll fall in, that'll teach him a lesson." Sakura joked, giggling lightly as the heiress became more apprehensive.

"Come here fishy, fishy, fishy…" The blonde boy said, poised in the water with a self made spear. He looked quite primitive with his get up, but was waiting for the fish to come out from under the rock. Naruto stood there, motionless, staring intently at the water, as if willing the fish to come out.

It showed itself slightly. "Gotchya!" He yelled and plunged the spear towards the fish, but missed by a mile. Unfortunately for Naruto the rocks were slippery, and being the idiot he is, shifted his weight wrong and fell into the water with a splash. The blonde stood up and heard people laughing at him. He whirled around to see three people standing on the bank between him and the camp. His eyes grew wide, "What the hell are you guys doing here?!"

The group consisted of two boys, one with bright red hair and teal eyes, and the other in a black cat-like suit with purple face paint. There was also a girl, blonde with four small ponytails and a giant fan. She smirked at the now soaking wet Naruto, "We're here on a mission, your Hokage asked us to come and help with some people. We didn't get all the details; we were going to get more when we got to your village."

The Uzamaki's mouth dropped, "You're going to be helping with those two psychos?! Good luck with that."

"Thanks, I think." The cat-man replied uneasily, looking to the ground.

"Oh, heh, where are my manners, it's good to see you guys again; Temari, Kankuro," The Knucklehead greeted, "G-Gaara."

Kankuro nodded with a short smile and spoke up, "Where's the rest of your group? And what do you mean psychos? Have you met these people that are supposed to help us?"

Naruto busted up laughing and fell in again. He stood up spluttering and walked to the shore. "Yeah, I've met them, if you come with me to the camp, _you _can meet them." He had an evil look in his eye and led the way back to the camp.

As the four ninja walked through the forest, they heard a conversation that made their leader sweat-drop. "Your stick is too small, Sasuke, it's going to need to be bigger for this to work." They heard Taylour's voice through the brush; Naruto turned to his curious and confused friends, smiling innocently.

"Well, that would be one of them, they're gathering fire wood." He explained, noting the smirk on Kankuro, and the horrified look on Temari; the redhead just stood with his arms crossed, emotionlessly with an invisible brow cocked.

"Oh shut up, it's for a fire, it doesn't matter!" Sasuke yelled back, now both teens having an armful of wood and kindling, walking back in the way of the camp.

Taylour glared but heard something in the bushes, "Sh, there's something in there." She whispered, looking towards her partner who was already in a fighting stance, wood dropped and kunai in his hand.

"H-Hey guys, look who I picked up!" Naruto said sheepishly as he rustled through the bush, his trademark smile on his face, walking forward but tripping and falling on the kindling.

"Are you ok, Naruto-kun?" Taylour asked as she knelt beside him, ignoring the others.

"Hai, Teiraa-chan, just a bruise," He replied getting up and quickly brushing himself off.

"What are you doing here?" The Uchiha asked threateningly, looking towards Gaara, whom glared back with empty aqua eyes.

"We're just here to help, your Hokage sent us but we didn't get all the details. We're on our way to your village now. Naruto invited us to come along with you." The elder of the brothers, Kankuro, stepped forward, explaining what was going on.

"We can do it on our own, we don't need you." Sasuke replied coldly, looking towards the three new shinobi.

"That's not what your Hokage said; we're just here to help." Kankuro told him, stepping closer in defense.

"Yeah, Sasuke, and if anyone gets in our way, Gaara can just kill them." Naruto stepped between the two and smiled, not realising what he had said. The redhead stepped forward, a sinister look forming on his face and a growl emitting from his throat.

"Gaara, don't." Temari said quietly to her youngest brother, walking slowly towards him with her hand outstretched.

He kept his eyes on the blonde boy, who was standing stiffly, facial features slowly turning back to normal, "Don't worry, Temari, he's not worth it." The boy said with a harsh tone.

"I'm sorry, Gaara, I didn't mean it like that. You know me, can't control what comes out of my mouth." Naruto apologised with a small laugh.

"Hi, I'm Temari, one of the Sand Siblings from Suna; these are my two brothers though I hate to admit it sometimes." The fan-girl held her hand out to the forgotten Taylour, drawing the tension away from the boys.

"H-Hi, I'm Taylour, one of their charges, Ashley's with Kiba gathering water." The young girl replied a bit uneasily, taking the offered hand and smiling.

"Well it's certainly a _pleasure_ to meet you, Teiraa-chan," Kankuro started, a sexy smirk on his face, "I'd be glad to help you with whatever you need." He circled her, looking her up and down while the girl resisted the urge to murder him and gouge out those wandering, black eyes.

"Stop," Gaara stepped forward, in front of his brother who immediately backed away as the tension returned, "I'm Sabaku no Gaara, and this poor disgrace of a ninja is my brother, Kankuro." The boy had a large gourd on his back and a blood red "Love" kanji tattooed on his forehead.

"I-It's an honour to meet you, G-Gaara," She replied hesitantly, smiling and holding her hand out. His eyes were like stone as he stared at her, arms still crossed. She pulled her hand away as her smile faded. "Well it's nice to meet all of you, thank you for coming to help us, though I don't know why your leader, or whatever they're called, made so many people come out."

"Are you guys done yet? I'm hungry; can we head back to camp now?" The blonde ninja whined once again, a frown on his childish face.

"Fine, dobe, you three follow." Sasuke replied bitterly, walking through the forest without another glance.

"Teme," Naruto growled, waiting for Taylour and the Sand Siblings to go through first. He caught up to Temari who was following behind the Uchiha, the other girl behind him followed by Kankuro, Gaara coming last.

"If you don't stop staring at my ass you're going to be in a very uncomfortable position _very_ soon." Taylour growled, staring at the older brother through the corner of her eye.

He walked up right behind her, "Can I get that promise in writing?" He whispered huskily as she continued to walk at a faster pace, praying the camp would come into sight soon.

God decided to be nice to her and the site was right around the corner, Sakura and Hinata turned to look at the group and acquired shocked looks as to who was with them.

"Oh good you're ba-Temari?!" The pink-haired kunoichi began, but cut herself off, running up to the blonde with the fan as she came into view and gave her a tight hug, the girl returning it. Hinata stood hesitantly to greet her old friend, as well, a small smile on her face.

"H-Hello, Temari-chan, it's a pleasure to see you guys again!" Hinata smiled and bowed at the girl, but received a hug in return.

"Hey, Kankuro, nice to see you again," Sakura and Hinata greeted with a smile as Taylour and Kankuro emerged from the bushes.

The Hyuuga gave a small gasp as she noticed the last ninja make his way into the opening. "G-Gaara-sama, its nice t-to s-see you…" She said quietly and began poking her fingers together. Her friend turned and saw the redhead make his way into the clearing and went silent.

"Y-Yes, it's a pleasure to have all of you here with us!" The pink-haired girl remarked, breaking the silence. "What brings you here?" Sakura asked, offering the group a seat by gesturing to the logs set around the non-existent campfire.

"Your Hokage asked us to go on a mission for her and we were on our way to Leaf when we saw Naruto. Then we ran into Sasuke and Teiraa." Temari explained with a smile, walking to sit down next to her friend.

"Oh, very cool, I'm so glad you're here!" Sakura exclaimed, also sitting down. She cleared her throat, looking in Sasuke's direction then to the fire, signaling she wanted him to make it and now. The Sand Siblings got reacquainted with everyone and began to settle in, dropping their things and walking toward the fire pit.

"What! I got the stupid fire wood; you can't expect me to make it, too." He snapped at her, crossing his arms and turning his nose away.

"If I recall, Uchiha, you're the one that can breathe fire which means you're the most suitable to build it." Kankuro said, smirking in Sasuke's direction.

The Uchiha was about to say something until Sakura cleared her throat and looked to the fire pit once more, he grumbled and glared at her, got up, and walked towards the fire. He proceeded with making the appropriate hand signs, Horse and Tiger, and then blew fire across the kindling. Just as the flames started, Ashley, Kiba, and Akamaru ambled through the trees sloshing buckets of water everywhere, including on the new born fire. They were laughing and hadn't realised what had happened. Sasuke growled in their direction while the Sand Siblings looked questioningly at them. Naruto tried to contain his laughter while Taylour, Sakura, and Hinata did the same.

Kiba's laughter immediately subsided as he noticed the new visitors, Ashley stopped as well, noting the dog-boy's change in mood; Akamaru growled lightly. "What are you three doing here?" He asked, stepping forward.

"Your Hokage sent us to help you on this mission; we're not here to start something. Last I remember Leaf and Sand were allies." Kankuro replied defensively, also taking a step forward.

"Okay, enough you two." Sakura stated firmly, walking in between the two shinobi. "Can we get through the introductions without killing anyone?"

"Not going to bet on it if-," Kiba began again, but Ashley cut him off.

"Who in the name of Screech are you guys?" The girl asked curiously, walking up to poke Kankuro's puppet.

He turned and flicked her hand away. "We're the Sand shinobi; we've come to help with you two lunatics. I'm Kankuro; this is my sister Temari, and my brother Gaara." Ashley just looked them over a few times.

"Oh, huh, more people to bug. Well, I'm Ashley as I'm sure your tiny brains have guessed, and apparently you already know my dear cousin." She stated nonchalantly as everyone else sweat dropped.

"You guys, I'm hungry! Can we eat _now_?" Naruto whined once again, a small pout on his lips.

"Yeah, I'm starving! Don't make me eat this rock." The eldest cousin joined in and picked up a random stone. Taylour sighed and shook her head at her cousin's childish nature.

"I think we're all getting hungry. Thankfully, though he may be forgetful, Naruto never fails to bring enough Ramen to feed a third world country." Sakura said, looking at the fox boy who was already digging through his bag, pulling out a large armful of assorted Ramens. Shino dug out the pot and poured some water into it to boil, 

setting it on the fire. Naruto hastily dumped all of the ramen into it, mixing the flavours as everyone sighed. The pot was bubbling and soon the food was dished out to everyone.

Dinner was eaten in silence until someone started humming, "Taylour, don't." Ashley said warningly, her cousin just smiled wider as everyone turned to look at the pair. The humming got louder, contrasting with the night silence.

Soon the blonde girl broke out into song, "Our song is the slam of screen doors, sneaking out late tapping on your window, when we're on the phone and you talk real slow, because it's late and your mamma don't know!" Her ramen was now discarded on the ground as she danced and sang into the imaginary microphone. Everyone's eyes were now on her, watching in interest and confusion, Naruto was still slurping his third bowel of Ramen.

"Taylour, sit down!" Her cousin had her hands over her ears, "Ack, you know I hate that song!" She twitched and fell to the ground at Kiba's feet.

"I was walking up the front porch steps after everything that day," The youngest girl started the second verse and performed for the ninja. "It had gone all wrong, I'd been trampled on and lost and thrown away. Got to the hall way well on my way to my loving bed, I almost didn't notice all the roses and the note that said…Our song is the-," She was cut off mid-chorus when Ashley pounced on her in an animalistic fashion.

"You…know…I…hate…that…song." She breathed, pinning her smirking cousin to the ground.

"I know, that's why I love it," The other replied, smiling innocently. Kiba walked over and pulled Ashley off of the other blonde girl, setting her down on the log once again.

"That was random," Shino commented from behind his collar, calmly finishing off his dinner.

"Sorry, I like music." Taylour smiled sheepishly as she took her place next to Gaara, as far away from Ashley as possible.

Once the bowls were emptied, Naruto still hungry, they were collected and put next to the fire for the morning. Everyone started shuffling and preparing for bed, laying out the bed rolls and adjusting things as such.

"So, Sakura-chan, where should we set up our things?" Temari asked as she walked over to her discarded fan and bags.

The pink-haired girl looked toward Naruto, who grinned sheepishly, and then turned back to the waiting Sand Siblings, "Well, since Naruto here forgot our tents, we're sleeping under the stars." She rolled her eyes and began laying her bedroll out as everyone followed suit.

"That doesn't sound too bad, actually, it's warm enough we don't need tents." Temari smiled and unpacked her things, Kankuro following.

The sleeping bags were arranged in a nice pattern between the logs and the fire in a circle. "I think it's time to get pajamas on, what do you guys think?" Sakura asked, pulling out her clothes.

"S-Sounds good to me, but what do we do about ch-changing?" Hinata asked shyly, hiding a blush. You could hear Kankuro give a small 'whoop' as Kiba glanced at Ashley, who of course wasn't paying attention.

"Guys, turn around, please?" Temari asked as the boys nodded and turned their backs to the girls. She noticed one of her brothers was still facing the right way and turned him sharply around.

"God, you are such a pervert, Kankuro." She told him as he gave a light chuckle and an innocent shrug.

The three kunoichi were almost fully changed as Ashley and Taylour just stood there. "Uh, Sakura-chan, what should we do about pajamas? I'm not sleeping naked." The eldest asked quietly. Kiba and Kankuro resisted the urge to turn around, knowing it would only end in pain.

"I-I think I have an extra p-pair, Ashurii-chan, y-you c-can borrow them." Hinata replied, digging through her bag. She pulled out a dark green top with matching sweatpants and handed them to Ashley. The girl quickly stripped and threw the clothing on as fast as she could, sighing once she was done.

"Thanks Hinata, they fit perfectly." Ashley said graciously, snuggling into the soft fabric of the shirt.

The girls turned to look at Taylour. "I don't know if I have anything, Teiraa-chan, I'm sorry." Sakura said apologetically, sifting through her duffle.

"I'll just sleep in my underwear like I did last night, not a big deal." Taylour said calmly, Kankuro whisked his head around and smirked at her back. The girls weren't paying attention to him, Temari already in her sleeping bag.

"Hell yes," He smirked as she was about to start undressing.

"Kankuro, turn around right this instant!" His sister jumped out of her sleeping bag and began to walk over to him until Taylour stopped her. By now, all of the guys had turned around to watch what would unfold next.

"Hang on, Temari; if he wants a show then by all means he'll get one." The youngest said seductively as she kept her eyes on a slightly shocked Kankuro. The boys watched intently as Ashley just smacked her hand to her forehead and sighed.

Taylour began to strut over to the boy, unbuttoning her top and sliding it off when she got right in front of him, exposing her black and crème coloured bra. She lightly threw the article of clothing aside, landing near a stunned Naruto. Next, the girl moved her hand slowly to the button of her pants as he watched intently. The button popped open and she slowly slid the zipper down, grabbing the sides of the waist-band she slid them down her hips with a small sigh, eyes on the boy at all times.

Once her pants were around her ankles, exposing her matching black boy shorts, the girl gracefully stepped out of them and kicked them aside. The brown-haired boy, along with every other male present, was now fully shocked at the girl and waited to see what would happen next. She winked at him and sauntered over to her discarded clothing near the rest of the boys, the shirt in front of Naruto and the pants by Shino. The blonde girl bent over slowly, giving Kankuro a view of her backside, and gathered her items, making her way back to the subject of her affection.

She got on her tip-toes and moved closer to his ear, her breasts right below his chin, "Did you enjoy the show, Kankuro-_kun_?" She asked in a low whisper and pulled away biting her bottom lip.

"Fuck yeah," He replied, eyes scanning over her exposed body.

She glowered suddenly, "Good, take a picture, it'll last longer!" Pulling his hood down forcefully over his experienced eyes, Taylour walked away to her bed roll as if nothing had happened. The boys all snickered and got back to what they were doing.

Climbing into her sleeping bag the girl noticed everyone staring at her, "What? Gosh, you guys, you look as if you've just seen someone strip or something." She said calmly, smirking once her back was turned from everyone and snuggling into her blankets.

The group looked towards each other, then to Kankuro, and proceeded to get changed, the boys sleeping in their shorts. Once everyone was situated, the bed rolls were adjusted and the shinobi and their charges climbed in. All except Gaara, he just sat on one of the logs, gourd next to him.

"Does she always do that?" Kiba whispered to Ashley quietly, the two walking over to their beds.

"Eh, yeah, if she likes the guy, you get used to it." The girl told him matter-of-factly. The dog master just raised his eyebrows and continued to his bed roll.

The group snuggled into the warmth of their sleeping bags arranged in a circle around the fire. Kiba was next to Ashley with Sakura on her other side, Sasuke next to Sakura with Naruto on his left. To Naruto's left was Hinata, Shino on the other side. Temari took her place on the Bug-Boy's other side with Taylour on her left. Kankuro completed the circle by placing himself on Kiba's right side, next to Taylour.

"Just out of curiosity, who's going to keep watch?" The latter asked sleepily, the rest of the ninja looking at each other, then to Kankuro and Temari who looked towards their brother.

"I'll do it," Gaara replied, voice still like ice, the fire illuminating his form.

There was an awkward and uncomfortable silence, that is, until Ashley decided to break it, "Well, I don't want to die so make sure if anyone comes around you kick their ass." And with that she flopped back down and immediately began to snore.

"I doubt he'll have a problem with that," Sasuke glared to the redhead who looked up from the fire, another silence washing over. The cork on Gaara's gourd gave a small 'pop' and sand slowly poured out.

"Sasuke, enough, go to bed." Sakura stressed to the boy, attempting to push him back down on his bed.

"Brother…" Kankuro propped himself up on his elbows and looked to a very angry Gaara. Taylour, who was about in between the two siblings, glanced back and forth at the brothers. The redhead kept his eyes on Sasuke, but the sand started to make its way back into the gourd. He slowly stood and walked through the edge of the clearing, into the woods. All was now silent except for Ashley's snores. The Uchiha turned away from everyone with a huff and attempted to get some sleep.

Hinata looked hesitantly to where Gaara used to be then gave a small sigh, also snuggling under her covers, "Do you think he'll be ok?"

Naruto ripped his stare away from the forest and replied, "He'll be fine, Hinata-chan, get some rest." He sighed as he slowly made his way under the covers. Kiba and Shino also bedded down, leaving only Taylour and the Sand Siblings still staring into the dark.

"W-Will he really be alright, you guys?" The young blonde girl asked in a sad whisper, still looking ahead. The brother and sister looked at each other, sighing.

"Yeah, he'll be fine, let's get some rest." Temari gave a reassuring smile before nodding goodnight and turning over.

"Goodnight, Teiraa-chan," Kankuro said quietly.

"What, no perverted comment?" She asked in a whisper so as not to wake anyone.

"Well I figured if I asked if you wanted me to keep you warm, you would hit me and then I wouldn't get any sleep." He replied thoughtfully, then giving her a smirk, "Was I right?"

The girl rolled her eyes and smiled, "Yes, you were; now goodnight." She lay on her back and gave a small sigh, looking up at the stars before closing her eyes.

"Night, see you in the morning," Was the last thing heard before silence overtook the sleeping ninja.

A few hours went by and it was around midnight when Taylour awoke. She rubbed her eyes, not being able to sleep very well. She tossed and turned until finally giving up and looking to the stars. She smiled at her cousin's snoring, half sprawled over Kiba. "Can't wait to see what her reaction will be when she wakes up like that." She said quietly to herself, smirking.

A small grunt was heard from behind and she tilted her head back to see Gaara sitting on the log directly behind her. "Oh, hey, Gaara, you're back." She said quietly, giving a small smile. He just stared deeper in to the fire, the flames reflected in his wild eyes. "A-Are you alright?" This time he glanced at her, then back to the fire. "I'm sure Sasu-," She began to say again, but he cut her off.

"You should get some rest," He said, not breaking his gaze into the red hot flames, his voice cold like ice even in a whisper.

"Y-You're right, you should too." She returned her head to normal and stared into the sky.

"I don't sleep," He told her harshly. She blinked and sighed quietly.

"Oh, okay, see you in the morning," She sighed once more to herself before drifting to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: Ooooh, the plot thickens! Don't you love those three? I do. So many possibilities. Have you guessed the pairings yet?! I KNOW! Well, of course I know. Again, please review _nicely_. It's much appreciated! **

**Theme Songs: Crawling-Linkin Park, Best Friend-ToyBox, Miracle-Cascada, Animal I Have Become-Three Days Grace, I Just Can't Wait to be King-Disney's 'The Lion King', Emo Kid-Adam and Andrew**

**Ja ne!**


	4. Training Begins

**A/N: Okay, my co-author has been pestering me to update the story, so here, happy now, Barnacle? Good. Now, the plot thickens even more in this one! And we get to hear from some of our most favourite murderers! YAY! Can anyone guess who? Just a hint, he has the Sharingan, but it's not Sasuke, nor Kakashi...and he's not dead...well, not in this story he's not. SO DEAL! I'm sure we would all love to see him alive again, though. Okay, on to the required stuff!**

**Rating: T, for language and adult content, as always. Fun stuff, yo!**

**Disclaimer: This is getting annoying, as I'm sure it is for all of you, too. I. Own. Nothing. OH! I lied, again. I DO own Squirrel, that is MY game and don't any of you try to steal it! I made it up all on my own. **

**Aside from that...happy reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Training Begins**

The sun rose slowly, shedding a golden light on the sleeping ninja. Gaara hadn't moved from his spot at the fire, making sure it kept a small flame all through the night. The rest of the group was resting peacefully; Naruto had somehow managed to turn himself completely around during the night and was now sprawled on his stomach, drooling on the ground.

Taylour was the first to wake and slowly opened her eyes, looking up to see the redhead still where he was a few hours earlier. "Good morning," She yawned and whispered, rubbing her eyes, "Did you have a good night?"

He looked at her with a somewhat surprised expression and nodded slowly; no one had ever asked him that before. "Oh good, what a pretty sunrise," The girl smiled and looked to the east.

"Sh, I'm trying to sleep," Kankuro grunted and turned over, covering his ears. She rolled her eyes and smiled, giving him a hard punch in the arm.

"Ow, what the hell?" He rubbed the sore spot and turned to glare at her.

"Well good morning to you, too." Taylour replied sarcastically, looking over his shoulder and giggling.

"What's so funny?" The eldest Sand brother inquired, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"How much you wanna bet she freaks and yells something about rape when she wakes up?" The blonde whispered quietly, nodding her head in her cousin's direction.

Ashley and Kiba were spooning, the dog boy's nose buried in her hair, smelling her scent every time he inhaled. She unconsciously sighed, a smile on her face. "Wait for it…" Taylour narrated as the threesome watched this unfold.

The Inuzuka smiled, still asleep, and pulled the girl's body closer, she snuggling into him. A few seconds later the blonde's eyes shot open in surprise. She turned her head slowly to see what was holding her in such an embrace and a look of horror spread across her face as she saw it was Dog-Boy himself.

"Oh my God, rape!" Ashley screamed as she turned around, pushing Kiba roughly away from her. "What do you think you're doing?!" She screeched at him, standing up, Taylour laughing hysterically in the background. By now everyone had woken up.

"I wasn't doing anything!" He defended himself, also standing up.

"Who, what, when?" Naruto asked groggily as he hoisted himself to his feet.

"Oh nothing, he was just trying to take my innocence!" The eldest was still freaking out, and by now Kankuro, Taylour, Temari, and Naruto were rolling on their backs laughing. The Inuzuka was trying to justify that it was just an accident while the blonde next to him was rubbing her body on the grass trying to get the germs off.

Just as the laughter had subsided the dog master spoke up in a very accusing tone, "How do I know you weren't trying to sleep with _me_? Being all seductive like that it makes me think you were!" Now standing up, Ashley was thoroughly appalled.

"Le gasp…" Her cousin faked a gasp, looked at her, and then burst into laughter again, falling back once more.

"How dare you insinuate that!?" She walked up to him, his face as angry as hers, she clenched her fists tightly and was about to punch him when he grabbed her wrist.

"I'm a ninja; you're going to have to do better than that." Kiba smirked, everyone was silent until Naruto and Taylour started up with their amusement again. Ashley glared at him and pulled her hand away, walking to her cousin.

"I'm hungry, when's breakfast?" She growled angrily, still not over the fact that she couldn't beat the dog lover.

"Me, too, can we eat now? I think I'm going to starve!" Naruto whined and grasped his stomach. Sakura rolled her eyes and began gathering the dishes, Temari and Hinata helping. The youngest crawled out of her sleeping bag and stood to help when she felt eyes on her. She turned to see all the guys looking at her with cocked brows; she had forgotten what she was wearing. It took a second until Hinata lightly cleared her throat, causing the girl to glance down at her self.

She looked up again smiled sheepishly. "Heh, sorry, I suppose I'll get dressed now." She unfolded her clothes quickly and threw them on. Fixing her hair, she walked over to help with breakfast while the boys began packing things up.

Sakura stopped and turned to them, "Oh, hold up, guys, I have an idea." Everyone stopped and looked at her, awaiting the explanation.

Sasuke spoke up in his apathetic tone, "She has an idea, we're doomed." Naruto and Taylour punched his arms and told him to shut it. He glared, but listened.

"Anywho, before I was most rudely interrupted," The pink-haired kunoichi glared at the Uchiha, "I thought since we have so much time and there's a river near by, I could help Teiraa-chan start focusing her chakra for training." Everyone looked at her, some confused, others thinking.

"I'm ok with that, sounds like fun, dattebayo!" The Uzamaki punched his fist in the air and hugged Sakura for her idea; Hinata looked away and Ashley noticed.

"That sounds like fun, I just have one question. With everything that's happened we haven't really been able to ask, what exactly makes us so special that you need us to help you?" Taylour asked curiously.

"I've been trying to figure that out for a while now." Sasuke mumbled under his breath, the young blonde gave him another hard punch to the arm.

"Oh, right, we have ye to explain that. Well, you're family possesses a rare kekkei-genkai that allows you to manipulate the element that you were born under." Sakura explained matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, because we understood every word you just said." Ashley said sarcastically, giving a very cynical look.

"A kekkei-genkai is a bloodline limit that few n-ninja possess, only if you w-were born into a specific f-family. Like the Byakuugan, th-that's my k-kekkei-genkai, it's strictly n-native to the Hyuuga." Hinata told the girls who listened intently. The midnight blue-haired girl brought her index fingers together, lacing her hands, muttering the word, "Byakuugan!" Her white-lavender eyes became more prominent as her veins popped out beside them. She released it after a few seconds of the two girls gawking at her. "S-Sasuke-san also possesses a kekkei-genkai, the Sharingan." The two cousins looked shocked, yet thoroughly impressed, and shifted their eyes from the Hyuuga, to the Uchiha. Sasuke rolled his eyes and muttered, "Sharingan", his two onyx orbs immediately turned red with three black swirls in the iris. Just like Hinata's, right after he had done it, he undid it and went back to normal. Ashley and Taylour stared from the Uchiha, to Hinata, and then to each other.

"Dude…" Ashley said, looking forward in awe, "This is so cool! So, which element is whose?!" Ashley asked in excitement, jumping up and down in front of a startled Sakura.

"Um, yours is Earth and Teiraa's is water." She said uneasily, trying to get away from the overly excited girl. Said cousin stopped immediately and stared at Sakura with wide-eyes and an open mouth.

"Sweet, I can make earthquakes!" She said proudly, and then stared toward Kiba with a dangerous look; he just scoffed and went to Akamaru.

"Are you ok, Teiraa-chan?" Naruto asked, walking over to the other blonde who was now sitting down on the logs away from her peers, her head in her hands.

She just looked at him slowly, total disbelief across her face. "Y-Yes, Naruto, I think I'm fine." She stared into oblivion for a second, "I still can't believe it, I just can't."

"Well, believe it!" Naruto hugged her tightly, breaking her trance; she smiled and hugged him back. "You're with us now, both of you, you're part of our family and we're going to make you two of the best ninja; next to us of course!"

"So, when does my training begin?" She stood up and walked toward the other ninja, a grin across her face.

"Right after breakfast, which reminds me, let's get this ramen started." Temari answered, boiling some water.

"We might want to be careful," Gaara said in his monotone voice, eyes not leaving the now-ready food before him, "I sensed something last night." The guys stared at him, then at each other.

"When the girls go to train, we can check out the forest." Sasuke decided, the others nodding in agreement.

Breakfast was now finished and the dishes put away. "Ok, so I guess we'll head to the river while you five check out what's going on. We'll be back later." The fan master told the boys, gathering her equipment and swim clothes. Sakura and Hinata followed suit, grabbing towels they had brought along and a few swimsuits. The boys nodded their goodbye and headed into the deep forest.

"What should we wear, Sakura-chan?" Taylour asked, as she put her hair in a ponytail.

"Well, you can fit into one of my extra bathing suits, Hinata do you have one for-," Sakura started, but Ashley cut in.

"I'm not going." She said bluntly, emotionless.

"Oh come on, Ash, we'll have fun!" Her cousin smiled sweetly.

"I'm…not…going…" The eldest repeated, not looking toward them.

"She's afraid of water." Taylour told in a whisper, Temari and Sakura nodded.

"I-I'll stay with you, A-Ashurii-chan." Hinata said quietly, walking back to the log.

"That would be great, Hinata, thank you." Ashley smiled lightly and stood up to walk to her cousin. "Have fun training; don't drown yourself, or anyone else. Except for maybe Make-up Man, that's cool with me; and Emo boy." She smiled and bid her cousin a goodbye as the three ninja walked through the forest.

"God, Kiba, moving a little fast this morning?" Naruto nudged his friend's side and gave him a sly grin.

"What the hell, Uzamaki?" The dog lover asked defensively, cocking his eyebrows.

"You know what I mean, you and Ashurii-chan! It's so obvious you like her." The blonde ninja replied smugly.

"You're such an idiot…" Kiba looked to the ground. "It was an accident, besides, she snuggled up to _me_."

"Even the dobe has you there, Kiba, you like her." Sasuke said suddenly, making everyone turn to him. "Oh come on, everyone see's it. Kind of like someone else I know…" He looked toward a completely oblivious Naruto.

"She's hot, go for it." Kankuro added and smirked in his direction. Kiba was now bright red; Akamaru was even staring at him accusingly from atop the boy's shoulder. The Inuzuka growled and rolled his eyes, walking a little faster. His friends looked at each other, smirked, and followed him.

Hinata and Ashley just sat in silence and worked on various tasks as everyone had left. "A-Ashurii-chan," Hinata finally stammered out, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Hinata?" Ashley replied, not looking up from the strange configuration of rocks she was making.

"D-Do you like Kiba-kun?" The Hyuuga asked, blushing slightly and fiddling with her the things in front of her.

Ashley went rigid for a moment, taken aback by this sudden question. She sat back on her heels and thought for a moment. "Honestly, I don't know. I just met you guys, and I'm still sorting out whether or not I want to trust all of you." She looked up with a smile and noted an almost pained look on Hinata's face, "Hinata-chan, don't take that as I don't trust you, I'm just still getting to know everyone and it takes a while for me to open up, even though I'm a total spaz."

The kunoichi nodded in understanding and went back to braiding the pieces of long grass she had.

"I have a question for you, Hinata." Ashley stated suddenly as she randomly pushed over her three-inch high rock temple. "Do you like Naruto?" She smiled as the Byakuugan holder blushed a deep red. "I never tell anyone's personal thoughts, and why would I?" The eldest cousin said again reassuringly, noticing the hesitancy in her new friend's features.

Hinata was deciding whether or not to reveal her secret when the boys made their way into camp, Naruto joking with Kiba and Kankuro, Gaara and Sasuke as far away from each other as possible as the underbrush parted to let the group through.

"Are the girls still at the river?" The Uchiha asked Ashley as he eyed her rock art skeptically.

"No, they joined Cirque de Soliel and Sakura sprouted a cherry tree from her head," She started seriously, the number one knucklehead staying true to his nickname and buying into it. "Of course they're still at the river," the girl rolled her eyes as the other boys snickered while Sasuke glared at her.

The Uzamaki had a blank look on his face and then it lit up, "we should go swimming, too!" Everyone present either hit their palm to their forehead or sweat dropped.

"I don't think it would be a good idea if they're training, dobe." Sasuke stated matter-of-factly, shaking his head.

"Hey, I'm in, besides, they might be half-naked!" Kankuro said smirking and rubbing his hands together. The other guys smiled at the notion, except Gaara, he kept his placid facade and glared at his brother.

"You truly are a disgrace." He muttered under his breath.

"They're hot; we've seen them both in the shower." Kiba smirked as he glanced towards Ashley who was now about ready to bash his head in. Kankuro was on the verge of a nose-bleed as he imagined the girls surrounded by steam.

The soon-to-be kunoichi was about to go on a killing spree, but noticed Gaara's gourd for the first time and stared at it with curiosity. The redhead's glare shifted to her and she noticed. "May I ask what you have in that gourd?" She asked slowly, still staring at it in fascination. The group turned to look at the girl, and then to the boy, wondering what would happen next.

"Sand," he said flatly before turning to continue on to the river.

"Sand, interesting," Ashley muttered quietly, she was thinking deeply, then, "I'm going to call you Sandman!" The boys watched intently at what Gaara might do, Kiba secretly ready to protect her if it proved necessary. "What? I'm bad with names, it helps me remember." She said, raising her hands defencively.

The jinchuuriki rolled his eyes and proceeded to the river with Kankuro, Naruto, Sasuke, and Shino. The Inuzuka stayed behind with the eldest cousin and Hinata. "Are you two going to the river?" He asked looking from one to the other.

"N-No, Kiba-kun, I'd rather stay here and k-keep Ashurii-chan company," the Hyuuga responded quietly as she pushed her index fingers together. The dog master looked to the other girl, expecting an answer, but she was playing fetch with Akamaru.

He walked up next to her and looked at her tense form, "Are you alright?"

Ashley glanced at him after retrieving the stick from the white puppy. "Yes, I'm just dandy!" She replied with a sardonic smile, throwing the wood with a large amount of force.

"Why didn't you go down to the river with the other girls?" Kiba asked, leaning against a nearby tree, arms crossed lazily.

Greens eyes scanned over him, calculating. "I'm not a huge fan of water, especially rivers," she replied bluntly, turning her back to him once again.

He was surprised by the sudden mellowness from the so-far-eccentric girl. He just shook his head as she tossed the stick again. Instead of chasing after it, though, the dog jumped on his playmate, knocking her over. She let out a yelp of surprise as she tried to catch herself, but fell into the arms belonging to a certain Inuzuka, first. The girl blinked a couple times as she was gently laid down to the ground, staring at the red triangles decourating the face that hung over her. Akamaru chose that time to go and get the stick. Hinata, still nearby and setting the last of the campfire, glanced over to her friends and blushed, but smiled quietly to herself.

"Are you okay?" Kiba asked suddenly, making Ashley feel a bit awkward at his concern.

"Yes, it was just a fall, but thanks for catching me," she turned away from him and stood so as not to reveal her blush. "Akamaru! I'm going to maim you with a pine cone!" The girl shook her fists at the dog as he wagged his tail, trotting up t oher to recieve a pet or two when she kneeled.

"Akamaru, let's not jump on people, alright?" The canine master suggested lightly, giving his new friend a smile when she looked up to him. About to return the gesture, a giant tongue lapped across her nose instead. Hinata, having finished with her chores, made her way to her friends.

"Agh, Akamaru, you little…!" The little dog scurried off-not without a cheeky look-before she could get him. The eldest of the two cousins just sat on the ground and wiped off the slobber while her friends laughed. "You know what; we should go down to the river, just so we're not looking like retards up here by ourselves." She suddenly said, standing and ridding her loose shorts of the dust and dirt.

As they walked towards the river, Ashley noticed Kiba looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Do you think they've made any progress with their crash course?" She asked jokingly as the four walked slowly through the green forest, the faint sound of rushing water heard.

"Probably not," the boy replied as he listened to the different noises around them, "they're probably playing in it, judging by how you two act." He smiled a toothy grin. 

Thinking for a moment about the Inuzuka's statement, she decided to take it as a compliment. "Emo Boy must have drowned, then, along with Sandman. Their emoness drains the fun out of everything until it's a black hole of nothingness...like their hearts," the dark statement from the blonde girl surprised both Kiba and Hinata greatly; they stopped and turned to her with wide eyes.

"Just kidding!" Ashley laughed and kept walking, "you guys take everything far too seriously." The two shinobi looked at eachother before the Inuzuka rolled his eyes and resumed his pace, followed by his heiress friend.

"Good, now try and focus chakra, like this," Sakura started, putting her hands together and concentrating as a pale blue light formed around them; the three girls were knee deep in the water, all clad in bathing suits, trying to begin Taylour's training. She mimicked her sensei's moves and soon saw a dark, grey-blue colour forming in her hands. She looked from the chakra ball, to the two girls before her, then back to her palms in awe. They smiled widely and praised her.

"Is this chakra stuff going to help me manipulate the water like you said?" She asked, trying to steady the growing grey-blue ball in her hands.

"Kind of, now, you're not going to be able to do that for a while, right now we're just trying to show you basic chakra control." Temari explained matter-of-factly. As if to demonstrate the importance of this lesson, the blue ball of energy in Taylour's hands suddenly grew and began whirring faster and faster. It seemed to explode after the pressure became too much, sending three smaller orbs in different directions, acting as projectiles as one hit the top of a tree and sent it falling to the ground. The ninja ducked down into the water in hopes of dodging the other two, succeeding.

"Heh, my apologies, I guess I got a little over zealous," the youngest smiled sheepishly as her friends' eyes deadpanned; they stood, dripping wet. Putting her hands on her knees to hoist herself up, she looked down to palms as a vague pain coursed through them; the flesh was blistered and scratched.

"Don't worry, that will come and go as you excel, it's just from holding so much energy," Sakura assured, examining her small wounds.

"Hey, I was right you guys!" They heard Kankuro's voice as they prepared to begin again. The boys who had left the campsite a few minutes earlier were now at the bank of the river, beginning to strip off their clothes as the girls looked to them questioningly.

"Whoa, whoa, what the heck are you guys doing? I know I'm your sister and all, but I don't want to see you naked!" The Suna kunoichi said in fake disgust as she raised her hands to her eyes.

"Shut up, we're coming in the water with you!" Her brother replied; he was now in his dark purple boxers, the lines painted on his face trailing all over his torso exposed as he walked into the water. Sasuke took his time in folding his clothes where they wouldn't get wet, then walked stoically into the river. Shino decided it would be best not to expose any part of him and just stood by the bank examining the water bugs. Hinata shyly took off her shirt and pants to reveal a one piece dark blue swimsuit. Sakura had on a pink string bikini while Temari wore a similar dark green one, Taylour had to borrow a light blue halter style two-piece from the girls.

"Nee-chan, you came to the river, it's a miracle!" The youngest shouted as she spotted her cousin.

"Your face is a miracle!" The girl yelled playfully back. By now all the ninja, sans the eldest cousin, Gaara, and Shino, were in the river swimming and playing. The water ninja waded out of the water and skipped up to give her 'big sister' a hug.

"Ack, personal...bubble...invasion!" She gasped out, pushing the other girl off, who laughed and ran back into the river as Ashley found a comfortable rock to sit on and observe them.

"Hey, Ashurii-chan, why don't you come in? We're all having fun!" Naruto yelled as he splashed water into Kiba's face. Said girl laughed as the Uzamaki immediately got dunked by his pup-loving friend.

"Yeah, come on! You look depressed sitting there by yourself." The Inuzuka commented, trying to help. The girl was about to protest when they all started trying to convince her.

She shook her head, "There is no way in hell I'm going into that water on my own free will."

Immediately Ashley realised her mistake as Naruto and Kiba grinned at each other and jumped out of the water using their chakra. They immediately landed next to their target, grabbing her and bringing her to the river.

"What the heck?! Hey, let me go! No, no, not the-!" Ashley was cut off when they dropped her into the river.

The girl emerged from under the water with a deadly look on her face. "You…guys…are…so…dead!" She screamed and jumped on Kiba, dragging him under the surface. A few seconds passed as everyone watched intently until two forms rose, breathing heavily. The eldest cousin caught her breath and immediately started a splashing war with Naruto and Dog-Boy.

Taylour's training was forgotten as the session turned into one huge water fight between the girls and guys. Kankuro came up behind the youngest and grabbed her waist, lifting her out of the water. She was laughing too hard to do anything and just struggled as he jumped up with her still in his arms and crashed backwards into the river with a giant splash.

The girl quickly surfaced to find him coming towards her again, pulling her right hand back to hit the water and expecting a splash. Instead, a monumental wave arose and crashed over a shocked Kankuro. All was silent as everyone, including those on the shore, looked to the thoroughly surprised water ninja. She looked from her hand back to a very wet, and pissed, Sand shinobi. "Heh, d-did I do that?" She asked sheepishly, giving her victim an apologetic smile and turning to Sakura and Temari.

"Yeah, yeah I think you did, nice going!" Ashley praised her with a high-five, sticking her tongue out at Kankuro who just glared back.

"Looks like you generated more chakra than we thought. No wonder it's so dark, it's very powerful." Temari explained to the girl, smiling at her along with Sakura.

"I do say we are wonderful teachers, Temari." The pink-haired kunoichi applauded herself and her fan-master friend, the two smiling.

"I agree, that was…insane." Taylour looked once more at her palms and then back to Kankuro.

"G-Good job, Teiraa-chan!" Hinata spoke up with a slight smile, Taylour smiled back to her with a 'thank you'.

The new water nin turned back to a still angry Suna shinobi. "Oh you are so going to get it," He grinned evilly before coming toward her. She made her way to Ashley and hid behind her, only her eyes peaking out.

"It's not like I meant to!" The blonde pleaded in her defence.

"Back off, Make-up Man," The eldest told him as her younger cousin walked out from behind her.

"It's not make-up, it's Kabuki paint, genius." Kankuro told her bitterly.

"Looks like you just came back from a fag convention if you ask me." She contradicted him, crossing her arms whiled Kiba chuckled lightly behind her.

"You're just lucky I'm supposed to be helping you two." He glared back at the cousins.

"Is it all over you, then?" Taylour asked curiously, walking up to examine his chest.

He smirked perversely and leaned down to her ear, "_Every_where, wanna see?" He asked huskily, looking to the rest of the group behind her mockingly.

"Duh, that's so…!" She began, but stopped as she heard the others laughing behind her, "Hey wait, ew, God you're so gross." The girl's face turned from curiosity to disgust in a matter of seconds as her brain worked out what he really meant. His smirk grew wider as he stood up straight. "Don't make me splash you again, Kankuro!"

"Have you always been this slow? Oh wait, you have…" Ashley grinned maliciously at her now embarrassed cousin who just glared and tried to justify her words. A look of mischief crossed her face as she folded her arms.

"The real question here, dearest Nee-chan, is: who got you all wet?" Taylour crossed her arms accusingly trying to hold back a smile. Kankuro coughed up a laugh as Sasuke hid a wide smirk; the two knowing what was next while Naruto got his usual look of confusion. Temari and Sakura also held back laughter; the only two oblivious to the situation were Kiba and Ashley.

"Huh? Oh, that's all Dog Boys fault and I expect him to pay for it!" Ashley replied to her cousin's question, splashing the Inuzuka playfully. All was silent as what the earth ninja had just said sunk in. Simultaneously, everyone burst into barking laughter as her face turned bright red. She spun to look at a shocked, but laughing, dog master and smiled lightly. Taylour fell backwards into the water from laughing so hard and almost drowned herself.

The eldest of the two walked challengingly up to a recovering water nin, "Oh it's on, we'll settle this with a game of Squirrel! Kiba, you're my partner." She said as everyone just stared at her.

"What in the name of ramen is Squirrel?" Naruto asked the question everyone was wondering.

"It's like Chicken, only we call it Squirrel; it's much more dangerous." She said again as if everyone should know what this game was.

"Oh, right, like your being on top of him is going to help your situation!" Taylour burst into laughter once again, pointing to Kiba as her cousin turned red for a second time that day.

"Oh shut up! Now are we going to play or not?! Though, I suppose you are the most likely person to go into a battle of wits unarmed!" The aforementioned girl screeched at her counterpart who was now dead serious, glaring toward her. "Bring it on!" She said slowly, challenging her family again.

"Oh it's been brought, the Fed-Ex guy dropped it off at the house last night and I signed for it! Oh burn on your mother!" The youngest replied haughtily, the rest of the group staring at the two like they were insane. "Now, Kankuro, if you don't mind being my partner?" She asked sweetly, turning to the now smirking eldest brother.

"Hell yes, we'll kick your ass, Inuzuka." The brunette boy challenged, having a stare down with Kiba, who glared back with as much force.

"That's it, Ashurii-chan, get on," Kiba motioned for a slightly shocked earth nin to climb on his shoulders. He bent down and she hesitantly mounted him. Her legs wrapped around his shoulders and hooking behind his back, he grabbed her upper thighs with both hands and a shot of electricity immediately went through her spine.

"Wh-Whoa, watch where your hands are going!" She snapped to him, flustered; his grip tightening on her as he stood up.

"Would you rather me let go?" He inquired, looking up at her. She stayed silent and averted her eyes while team 7 and the rest of team 8 watched from the shoreline in anticipation.

"This is going to be great, dattebayo!" Naruto told Sasuke who just rolled his eyes. "My money's on Ashurii-chan and Kiba!"

"Dobe, we all know Teiraa is going to kick ass," Sasuke replied, ignoring the shocked faces as everyone stared at him, "What? It's the truth, ain't it?"

Kankuro smirked and bent down for Taylour to climb on. "Now, if your hands go anywhere near where I think they're going to go I'll bash your head in." She told him warningly as she swung her legs around his neck and 

he stood up. He automatically grabbed her upper thigh a little too close to the pelvic bone and squeezed tightly. "Too close, Kankuro, I think your hands are supposed to be lower," She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, right, sorry," He smirked and slid his fingers deeper in between her thighs and closer to forbidden territory.

She gasped, whacking him on the head, "I meant lower down my leg, you baka! Now get serious, we have some ass to kick." Taylour met Ashley's eye in a deadly glare, both girls smirking as their boys walked towards each other.

Kankuro and Kiba's grips tightened, preparing for the girls' movements. The two cleared their throats before yelling 'go' at the same time.

"Squeak squeaken squeaker squeak!" The eldest began, sticking her tongue out as the other gasped in horror.

The ninja on the shore, the two boys under the girls, and even the wild squirrels and fish sweat dropped at what was happening.

"What the hell are you guys doing?!" Sasuke yelled from the shore.

"We're playing Squirrel, what's it look like, genius? She just said the Backstreet Boys were gay!" Taylour glared toward her smirking cousin.

"How exactly are you supposed to play this game?" Kiba asked, looking up at Ashley.

"We insult each other in Squirrel speak and see who can have the last word." She explained, looking down at her partner.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything but, why do you guys need to be on top of us?" Kankuro inquired, also looking to Taylour, admiring the view he had of her breasts.

"One, if you don't stop trying to sneak a peak up my top I'll break your back, and two, because it's fun." She explained to him, smiling sweetly.

"You have got to be kidding me," Temari exclaimed, slapping her hand to her forehead.

"Yeah, well, squeakers squeak squeaken squeak squeakers!" The youngest shot back to an appalled looking Ashley.

"Motley Crue is not made up of girls, you idiot! Squeak squeakers squeak squeaken!" The elder of the two said maliciously.

"Le gasp! I cannot believe you just said that, I love Saved by the Bell!" The other growled at her family member. Kankuro and Kiba looked at each other and gave a nod, simultaneously dropping both girls backward into the water.

They came up spluttering and splashing, "What was that for? I had a perfectly good insult coming!" Taylour stared angrily at her partner.

"Because you're both crazy," He replied simply. Ashley cleared her throat and her cousin stared at her. Their eyes exchanged glances before they both smiled and hugged, sealing a truce.

"Let's head back, it's getting later." Sakura called from the shore line, the others were preparing to head back to camp. The sun was already setting against the distant mountains, the friends didn't realise how much time had flown by.

"Yeah, I'm beat, let's go." Ashley responded, wading through the water and onto the shore, Kiba behind her.

"After you," Kankuro bowed to Taylour, gesturing his hand to the shore, a smirk on his face.

She looked at him with eyebrows raised accusingly. "What are you getting at?" She asked him, crossing her arms.

"I'm being a gentleman to a beautiful lady," He bowed lower and tried to smile sweetly, looking up at her. She scanned him up and down then hesitantly began to walk forward, the water dripping down her body. She whipped her head around one last time, trying to catch any sign of suspiciousness, but found none.

He straightened up to look at her retreating body, water flowing from her long hair like a waterfall down the small of her back, around the curve of her ass, and down her legs as she stepped gracefully out. "That's what I like to see," He whispered, tilting his head and crossing his arms, a giant smirk on his painted face. She had heard his comment and spun around, the water still at her calves, her face burning with anger.

"You are such a pervert!" She said, exasperated at his antics, huffing and walking faster out of the water.

"Can you blame me for wanting such a gorgeous body?" He asked innocently, catching up with the rest of the group, clothes in hand.

"Give it a rest, brother," Gaara came out of nowhere, not looking down at the pair. Everyone went silent, including Kankuro, and continued to camp that way.

"Finally, I'm starving!" Naruto collapsed as they made their way to the campsite, the sun almost below the horizon.

"No you're not, Naruto, and you're going to have to wait, we need to get into warmer clothes." Sakura said as she set down the things she had taken to the river. She gathered her pajamas and looked toward the other girls.

"Well considering _some _people thought it would be fun to dunk me while I still had clothes on, I have nothing to wear!" Ashley exclaimed, almost ripping her hair out.

"I have an extra pair of boxers and a shirt you could wear," Kiba told her, everyone turned to the two. The girl's face went pink and she averted her eyes to the ground, finding the snail there very interesting.

"Y-Yes, th-that might be the best idea, I'm afraid I don't have any other outfits." Hinata told her with an apologetic look.

"Fine," She grumbled, looking up at the dog boy, "I guess I can live with that for one night."

"Ok, here," Kiba dug through his bag and pulled out a dark green t-shirt with some black silk boxers, "Go and change, I hope it's warm enough." He smiled to her and handed over the clothes. She took them hesitantly then stomped off over to Taylour.

"Now look what I have to do!" Ashley whispered harshly, no one being able to hear. The other just smiled evilly and rocked innocently on her heels.

"I think I have some pajamas for you, Teiraa-chan, let me see…" Sakura commented thoughtfully, digging through her bag and pulling out a pink camisole and a pair of short booties. The girl took them gratefully and waited for Temari and Hinata to retrieve their clothes.

"You boys want to turn around for us again, please?" The former asked of the guys once again, this time they all cooperated, even Kankuro. The girls changed quickly and told the boys to turn around. Kiba stood and 

stared Ashley up and down, his green shirt going perfectly with her complexion and making the colour of her eyes pop. The silk shorts flowed over her toned legs showing just enough, but not too much.

"What are you doing? You said I could have these clothes to wear." She told him, oblivious as to why his eyes were raking her. Taylour rolled her eyes at her cousin's sheer stupidity and prepared her bowl for the ramen.

As dinner was poured, the group ate in silence. "What, no show with dinner tonight?" Sasuke asked Taylour cynically, she glared to him sticking out her tongue.

"Hey Make-up Man, what's with the weird mummy thing?" Ashley asked, eyeing Kankuro's puppet next to him. He glared at her when she used his unofficial name and swallowed his mouthful.

"It's a puppet, I'm a puppet master." He replied proudly.

The two new girls looked at each other with horrified faces, then back to Kankuro and his puppet. He noted their features and began unraveling the white fabric around it, exposing a very scary looking, multi-armed puppet with scraggily brown hair and large eyes. Taylour's face immediately paled while Ashley almost fainted onto Kiba.

"It's…It's…" The first was lost for words as she hid her face behind her hands, her breath shallow.

"It's Chucky! Run away!" The other finished her young cousin's sentence and jumped behind Kiba in a panic. Taylour did the same, but ended up behind an emotionless Gaara.

"Whoa, God, guys relax. I'm the only one that controls him." Kankuro reassured the two girls while everyone else stared at them with confused looks. Taylour and Ashley simultaneously looked from behind their shields, slowly coming out.

"That _thing_ has a gender?! What, did you name it, too?" The youngest screeched in disbelief, looking at the puppet with wide-eyes.

"Of course he does, and his name is Karasu." He replied as if it were no big deal.

"S-So how do you control…him." Ashley asked hesitantly, still hanging onto Kiba's arm.

"Like this," Light blue chakra strings flew from his finger tips and attached themselves to Taylour in various areas, pulling her closer to him, a wide smirk on his features.

"Dude…this is so not cool!" His new 'puppet' whispered in fear as her hand reluctantly touched Karasu's head next to the master's. She shut her blue eyes tightly and turned her head away as the wiry hair raked through her fingers. After a few seconds she slowly opened one, then the other, and relaxed a bit, the strings still attached to her. Ashley let out a breath she had been holding the whole time when she saw her cousin was still alive.

"Though, controlling my puppets isn't the only thing these strings are good for." The puppet master said seductively, standing up in front of a slightly frightened girl. His hands flew up and he wiggled his fingers making her come reluctantly closer. Her hands traveled above her head, being bound by the wrists as he held them there. She was completely vulnerable, unable to move as he stalked closer, his coal black eyes looking deep into her blue ones. He leaned down to her ear, his mouth inches away from her neck and his hot breath tickling her sensitive skin, "I quite like this use as well, Teiraa-chan." And with that he released her arms making them fall limply to her sides.

"I don't know which is scarier, the puppet, or the fact that he can do _that_." Ashley exclaimed as Kankuro wrapped Karasu back up and Taylour, still in a trance like state, found her way back to the seat next to her cousin.

The blonde immediately snapped out of her stupor, "If you ever, _ever_ do that to me again I'll drown you slowly and painfully!" She threatened him menacingly, the other ninjas looking at her fearfully.

"One day you'll beg me to do it again." He challenged, leaning back on the log while sitting on the ground, crossing his arms.

"Only in your dreams," She rolled her eyes and turned away from him. The rest of her peers were looking from Kankuro, back to her as the two shot comments back and forth.

"Oh you can count on that." He smirked wider and put his hands behind his head.

"Kankuro, enough, don't scare her." Temari hit her brother upside the head. He rubbed the sore spot and looked up at her, mumbling something inaudible.

"Well if the idiocy is over with, I think we need to hit the hay, or in Kankuro's case a cold shower and an exorcism; we have a long day tomorrow, we need to make it back on time so you guys can settle in." Sasuke said, pushing himself off the log and preparing his bed roll by the fire.

"Oh, we forgot to ask, did you guys spot anything today in the forest?" Temari inquired, gathering the dishes and also preparing for bed.

"No, but I'm positive there was something, I'll stay up again and keep watch." Gaara told his sister in a low voice, taking his place on the log facing the edge of the forest.

"G-Great, I think e-everything will be alright." Hinata said quietly, crawling into her place next to Naruto.

"You bet, Hinata-chan, we'll be fine, dattebayo!" The fox-demon smiled to the Hyuuga and put an arm around her shoulder, making her blush a deep red and look away.

"I'm really tired, let's get to bed." Ashley yawned and slid into her sleeping bag, Kiba next to her with Akamaru at their heads.

"Yeah, goodnight everyone," Sakura said sleepily as she snuggled into her warm blankets, almost immediately falling asleep.

"Oyasumi nasai, see you in the morning!" Temari sighed and closed her eyes.

"Goodnight, Teiraa-chan," Kankuro whispered from next to her, trying not to wake anyone.

"Night, perve," She smiled playfully and gave him a wink before turning to the sky. "Oyasumi nasai, Gaara, thank you for being the lookout all these nights." She tilted her head back to give the sand demon host a smile. Gaara looked down to glare at her for a second before resuming his post. She looked at Kankuro, who was eyeing his brother with a worried and somewhat sad look. He caught her eye and looked at her, shaking his head slightly before he turned to fall asleep. Taylour sighed quietly and admired the starry sky before closing her eyes and falling into a deep sleep.

Ashley lay awake, turned away from a slumbering Kiba, and looked down to her attire under her blanket. She sighed silently and inhaled his scent from the shirt, closing her eyes. She turned her head to look thoughtfully at his sleeping form before turning back over and drifting into a sleep inhibited with dreams of a certain Inuzuka.

**. . .**

A blonde man with a ponytail along and a blue-skinned, shark looking male walked stoically into the main headquarters of the infamous Akatsuki lair, preparing to give their report. "Well, Deidara, Kisame?" Another shinobi asked abruptly, noticing his two fellow members come into view.

"They may have that kekkei-genkai, but they're no threat, un." Deidara informed Itachi, who stared at them expectantly. The two Akatsuki members had been spying on Ashley and Taylour for the last few days, following them around and observing, making sure the other ninja didn't catch sight of them.

"Yeah, you should've seen them at the river; they began speaking to each other in squirrel." Kisame rolled his beady eyes as he set down his giant sword. Deidara leaned against the wall by Itachi who was sitting at the desk, his feet propped up on the surface, a kunai spinning in his fingers and a deathly look on his face.

A man with orange hair and multiple piercings sat up on the couch and put his hands in front of his face, thinking deeply before asking, "Did you see either of them train?"

"Yeah, the girl that looks like Deidara." The mentioned blonde glared at Kisame as he shark spoke, "her element is water, she has a fair amount of strong chakra, especially for only her first day." The shark took his place on the couch by Pein. "She blasted Sasori's cousin right out of the water with a minimal quantity of force, and she wasn't even trying to."

"The Sand Shinobi are with them?" The leader perked up curiously and awaited an explanation as he stared between Kisame and Deidara. The artist's face became dark, blonde bangs shadowing his blue eye.

"All three of them, even the Sand demon," He told Pein darkly, molding a small piece of clay in his hands before throwing it out the open window and watching it explode.

"That'll make this all the more worth it," Itachi commented evilly, looking to each of his teammates with the Sharingan.

"Those girls would be perfect assets to us, I need them to join," Pein got a sinister look on his face as he began contemplating how to get the two girls to become part of the organization.

"That bratty brother of yours seemed to be fond of the mini-Deidara, and the Uzamaki kid is good friends with the other one. It won't be easy; they'll put up a fight." Kisame sighed and leaned into the couch, rubbing his small eyes with his a pale blue and clawed hand.

"I will kill Otouto, but I'll make sure to murder the others first. I'll make him watch their bloody death like that disgrace of a family I once had. But if the girls train with Kakashi they'll only get that much stronger." Itachi spun the kunai faster before throwing at the wall in between Kisame and Pein, just skimming passed the former's head, "We need to be ready." He got up and walked silently out of the room.

* * *

**A/N: DUN DUN DUN DUUUUN! Yeah, everyone be afraid. We have plans for this story, believe us. As always, PLEASE tell us what you think by submitting a review. It doesn't have to be long, but it's a nice thing to recieve. Heck, even flame us if you truly wish, we don't mind. Thanks for reading! Ja ne! **

**IMPORTANT/ATTENTION: As for anyone who is confused, we are NOT following the original Shippuuden story line, so please disregard anything you might have seen or read in the manga, it's not going to be in this, not really, anyway. **


End file.
